We Met at the Library
by Mitzuki118
Summary: Komaeda Nagito just wanted a place where he could be alone. He should have known he couldn't have even that. But the day Makoto Naegi walked in through those doors might have been the best thing that ever happened to him. From the quiet days they spent together, they eventually become close...will love bloom? (female Naegi)
1. Chapter 1

"This is going to sound crazy, but... from the moment I first set eyes on you I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."  
― **Leigh Fallon** , **Carrier of the Mark**

The first time Komaeda saw her was in the school campus.

He'd been in a hurry to get away from the bullies chasing him that he didn't notice her until he bumped into her.

Light gray-green eyes met startled green before he offered a small apology and resumed his run.

* * *

The second time he saw her was in the library. Rumors had been going on around the school that he'd supposedly assaulted a girl in the school. Guys sent him a glare each time they saw him while the girls gave him looks of disgust.

He was used to this kind of behavior back in middle school, but it still hurt. The rumors were false. What really happened was that one of the popular girls in the year above him, Ruruka Andoh, wanted to sleep with him because some of her friends had dared her to.

Komaeda had refused. Ruruka didn't take it well.

Soon after, rumors of him assaulting her had spread to the rest of the student body.

It was no use trying to explain, people didn't listen anyway.

His only solace was the schools library at the far corner of the school. As soon as he walked in, the students would leave their seats and leave the room until it was just him in there.

Oh well, at least no one would bother him there.

So one could imagine his surprise when on the fourth day, someone took a seat next to him in the library.

Komaeda looked up from his book in surprise. He glanced at the person sitting next to him and his eyes widened just a bit. It was that girl he'd bumped into last week.

Her long brown hair was set up in a high ponytail and those green eyes of hers were currently focused on the book in her hand.

Komaeda glanced around. There were plenty of other tables in the library, why had she chosen to sit next to him he wondered.

It didn't look like she was going to answer him but she wasn't giving him a look of disgust either so maybe she wasn't that bad. He returned his attention back to his book.

And for the next few hours till the school announced that it was closing, they both spent their time in comfortable silence.

* * *

The third time he saw her was during lunch a few days after the library incident. He'd just bought his lunch and was on his way to his special place in the roof when he spotted her and another blonde girl arguing about something.

Noticing that they were heading his way, Komaeda quickly hid behind the trashcans and crouched down before they spotted him.

"Come on Naegi! Come with us to karaoke! It'll be fun, I promise!" The blonde girl whined.

The other girl, Naegi, crossed her arms and shook her head. "No thanks Junko. There's this book I want to finish in the school library."

Junko's face scrunched up in disgust. "Ugh, you know _he's_ there right? Nobody wants to go there because that's where he likes to hang out. Haven't you heard the rumors about him?"

Naegi frowned. "You shouldn't listen to rumors Junko. Besides, the source of those rumors came from Ruruka, and no offence, but that girl has a tendency to lie. I'm sure that guy is actually really nice too. So I'm going back to that library, and I'm finishing that book."

Junko made another face but didn't say anything and soon after they disappeared inside the school building.

Once they were completely gone, Komaeda got up from his hiding spot and looked in the direction the girls had gone to. He couldn't help but look forward to after school.

* * *

Once the school bell rang indicating that school was over, Komaeda quickly put his things in his bag and practically ran to the library.

A look around the room told him that he'd arrived early. Komaeda made his way to his usual table and placed his bag on the floor before he randomly picked out a book from one of the shelves and took a seat.

A few minutes later, Naegi walked into the room. She gave him a nod of greeting before she went to one of the shelves. After a bit of looking, she picked out a book and made her way to her seat next to him.

And for the next few hours, they both sat there reading in silence.

It was during the last few minutes before the school would close that Komaeda heard growling.

Startled, he looked around the room in confusion but saw nothing.

Shrugging, he went back to his book.

A minute later, the growling noise came back.

Komaeda looked around and noticed Naegi's red face.

The growling grew louder and Naegi's face became redder.

Realization hit him and his eyes widened.

She was hungry.

He was debating whether to say something when Naegi abruptly got up and went to the restroom at the back of the library.

Just then, the overhead speaker announced that the school was closing and Komaeda began to pack his things when an idea hit him.

Making sure that Naegi wasn't coming back yet, he quickly took out the yogurt and spoon that he was going to eat later on and placed it on her seat before he hastily made his way out the door and leaned against it so he could see the results.

A few minutes later, Naegi made her way out of the restroom only to pause in surprise as she noticed the yogurt on her seat.

Komaeda held his breath.

Naegi walked up and picked up the yogurt. She looked around the library before a soft smile graced her features.

Komaeda did a fist pump.

Satisfied, Komaeda turned on his heel, and with a skip to his step, went home.

* * *

The next day, Komaeda quickly made his way to the library. He was already late thanks to the lecture his homeroom teacher had decided to give him, something about picking fights with other students. Komaeda snorted, did he look like the type to pick fights? Honestly.

Finally reaching the library, Komaeda took a deep breath, and after attempting to fix his hair, he slid the door open and stepped inside, only to be disappointed.

Naegi wasn't here. Komaeda sighed and grudgingly made his way to his usual table only to stop and stare at the item that was there.

After a pause, he reached a hand and picked up the small bag there. Attached to the bag was a post-it note. He took it off the bag and brought it closer to his face so he could read it.

A smile adorned his face a second later. The note read:

 _Thank you for last time, I hope you like cookies :)_

Komaeda hugged the bag to his chest. His heart was pounding like crazy. Excited, he opened the bag and took out one of the cookies before he brought it to his mouth.

Komaeda decided right then and there that macadamia cookies were the best.

* * *

The weekend seemed to drag on. He just wanted it to be Monday already. He wanted to see Naegi already. He'd devoured the cookies she gave him just yesterday and already regretted it. Komaeda sighed and turned to his side on his bed.

He couldn't stop thinking about her. Every time he thought of her, his palms would get sweaty and his heart would start pounding. He wondered if he was getting sick.

School still sucked, but he truly enjoyed those moments he had with her after school.

"Did something good happen?"

Komaeda looked up at his friend, well his _only_ friend really, and raised an eyebrow at him. His friend had decided to visit him this Sunday afternoon and they were both sitting on his couch drinking soda. "What makes you say that?"

Hinata Hajime gave him a dubious look. "You look like Christmas just arrived early. What's up?"

Komaeda looked at his friend and bit his lip. After thinking it over, Komaeda quickly explained his feelings to his friends. He told him about the rumors at school, about the little meetings he and Naegi would have after school and how he'd started to react whenever he thought of her.

Hinata's eyes widened before he started laughing. Komaeda frowned. He didn't think it was very funny.

Once Hinata calmed down he took a sip of his soda and leaned back on the couch before he said, "Dude, you're in love."

Komaeda frowned and tilted his head. "Love?"

Hinata rolled his eyes. "Yep. It's definitely love. And you said her name was Naegi?"

Komaeda nodded. "I don't know her first name."

"It's probably Makoto Naegi then. I don't blame you for falling in love."

Komaeda looked at his friend in surprise. "You know her?"

Hinata nodded. "Yup. We're childhood friends you know. We still see each other every now and then." A wistful smile appeared on his face. "She's pretty awesome."

Komaeda looked into the distance. "Makoto Naegi." He whispered. "Am I in love with you?"

* * *

Monday finally rolled around and Komaeda couldn't wait for school to be over. He tapped his foot impatiently and glanced at the clock. Two minutes to go. One minute. Thirty seconds. The bell rang. Komaeda was out the door before the teacher could dismiss them.

Komaeda made it to the library and took his usual seat at the table. Once again he picked out a book at random and started reading while he waited for Naegi's arrival. Every minute seemed to drag. After ten minutes, the library door slid open and Naegi walked in. She took her usual seat next to him and pulled out a book.

After a minute of silence Komaeda cleared his throat and said, "The cookies…" Naegi looked up from her book. Komaeda felt his face go warm and he looked away. "They were good."

"I'm glad." Startled that she'd actually spoken to him, he turned back to her only to be blinded by the smile she had on her face. Komaeda decided that he wanted to see her smile more often.

He nodded and they both resumed their reading. Naegi pulled out a set of earphones and put them on her ears. Komaeda kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He wondered what she listened to.

Noticing his stare, Naegi glanced at him and offered him the right earphone.

Komaeda jumped. "Are you sure?"

Naegi smiled. "Sure, here."

Komaeda brought his chair closer to hers and took the offered item. He placed the earphone on his ear and closed his eyes as the sweet melody hit him. He didn't know the name of the song, but he instantly liked it.

"It's called _Touching You by Kenichiro Suehiro._ It's one of my favorites."

Komaeda opened his eyes and his face became scarlet. Naegi was close.

Too close.

This was seriously bad for his heart.

Her green eyes sparkled. "By the way, I'm Naegi Makoto, it's nice to meet you."

 _I know_ he wanted to tell her.

 _I've known for a while._

 _You're constantly on my mind._

What he said instead was, "Komaeda Nagito. It's nice to meet you too."


	2. Chapter 2

"I am happy to walk down the road of life with you, my friend. We make good travel buddies. For us, it's not about reaching a destination. Just spending time with you is all I need to feel happy in life."

-Unknown

Chapter 2

Ever since that day, Komaeda and Naegi would stay at the library until the school would close every day. They'd talk and read for hours; Komaeda didn't know the last time he'd had this much fun. Naegi was fun to be around, she had excellent choice in books, and she didn't listen to rumors. Komaeda had something to look forward to every day after school.

Naegi definitely wasn't like the other students, the ones who looked at him in disgust. But she was probably friends with some of them because whenever they would pass each other in the halls and she'd greet him, the people with her kept quiet.

Even Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko, who had bullied him until recently, had left him alone. He'd glare at him every now and then, but otherwise he left Komaeda alone. It made Komaeda wish he could be with Naegi twenty four seven.

* * *

The next day after school, When Komaeda got to the library, Naegi was already sitting in her usual seat with a book in her hands. No wait. Today she was reading a manga. She looked totally engrossed in it too. She didn't even notice him when he sat down. Komaeda pouted. He wanted to be noticed.

Naegi laughed and Komaeda turned his eyes on her. Wanting to know what made her laugh, Komaeda glanced at the manga she was holding, _GTO,_ it said. Naegi laughed again and put the book down on the desk and spread the pages before she resumed her reading. Komaeda didn't have anything better to do, so before he knew it, his eyes had wondered to the book and he began to read.

Naegi had figured out pretty early on that Komaeda was reading her manga. She inwardly grinned, but didn't say anything. She just spread the book a little more on the desk and continued to read. Komaeda laughed and Naegi looked at him from the corner of her eye. He had a nice laugh she decided. She hadn't seen him laugh at all, not that she could blame him with all the rumors and bullies that were around. At least Kuzuryu had backed off after she'd smacked him.

Okay Komaeda decided. This Onizuka guy was pretty awesome. He could be a pervert sure, but he genuinely cared for his students. The final school bell rang and Komaeda actually whimpered. They were just getting to the good part. Oh well. Komaeda sighed and began packing his things when Naegi thrust the book in his face. Komaeda startled.

"I couldn't possibly-"

She cut him off and placed the book in his hands. "Take it, I've already read the series."

Komaeda tried to hand it back one more time, but Naegi was already leaving. He quickly shoved the book in his bag and followed after her. Man did she walk fast. She was almost at the school gates. Naegi waved goodbye to him and started turning before Komaeda pulled on her sleeve.

Startled, he let go of her sleeve and looked away when she turned to him. She tilted her head.

"What is it?"

Komaeda tried to think up a response. Why _had_ he pulled at her sleeve? She was still waiting for his answer so he just blurted out the first thing he could think up. "I'll walk you home!"

Naegi eyes' widened. Komaeda's own eyes widened too. What had he been thinking? They weren't even friends! Sure they spent a lot of time together after school, but he'd never asked her to be friends with him! That's how you became friends with someone right? He only had Hinata as a friend, but he couldn't remember how they'd become friends either. What if she said no? He'd look so lame!

"Sure."

Komaeda's thoughts came to a complete stop. He whipped his head to her so fast, he was surprised he hadn't gotten whiplash. "W-what?" he stuttered.

Naegi smiled and adjusted her messenger bag before she turned to him. "Sure. I don't mind."

Komaeda could only stare at her in shock. She'd said yes. His inner self was doing a little dance while on the outside he straightened and coughed to ease the awkwardness he was feeling.

"W-well." He stuttered. "Lead the way."

Naegi laughed and waited for him so they could walk next to each other before she started moving.

Silence enveloped them again. Oh great Komaeda thought. Now it was awkward. He couldn't think of anything to say. They didn't share the same classes, so he couldn't talk about that. Now that he thought about it, he'd never spoken to a girl before. He'd recently started talking with Naegi but that was only about books.

He didn't think that conversation he had in middle school counted either. Handing a girl her eraser, and her thanking him didn't count. Right? Probably. Komaeda scrambled for a topic they could talk about, and just when he was about to give up and let them remain in that awkward silence, Naegi spoke up.

"Do you still get bullied?"

Komaeda was so surprised by the topic that he tripped. Thankfully Naegi gripped his arm before his face could meet the concrete. "Are you okay?" Komaeda nodded and once he was on his feet, Naegi let go of his arm. He missed it instantly.

"About the bullying," they resumed their walk. "They've left me alone for the most part. They glare about me but they don't chase after me anymore."

Naegi sent him a relieved smile. "That's great! They're not bad people, they're just too easily influenced by rumors. Don't worry though, I gave them a good smack."

Komaeda blinked in surprise. He was certain his face had turned scarlet. "Thank you." He mumbled. "You didn't have to do that though."

Naegi shook her head. "They needed a good smack to the head for even listening to Ruruka. That girl starts rumors all the time. It's best not to listen to her. By the way, we're almost to my house."

Komaeda looked at his surroundings. If you'd ever seen those commercials with those white picket fence houses, then you'd know what he was looking at. Naegi lived in a nice neighborhood. All these houses had the greenest grass he'd ever seen. There was no trash around whatsoever. The whole neighborhood was absolutely spotless.

"Well, here we are." Naegi announced. Komaeda looked to where she had stopped and looked at the big blue and white house behind her. There was a picket fence surrounding the whole place, Sakura trees surrounded the house obscuring it in a light shade. There was a porch swing at the front where a dog was currently sleeping on.

Naegi opened the gate and the dog was instantly on his feet. As soon as it saw them, the dog scrambled to its feet before it launched itself at Naegi. Naegi let out yelp at the sudden weight but managed to remain standing.

"Haruki," Naegi laughed as the husky licked her cheek, "Stop that, we have guests."

Komaeda looked back and forth between the two and smiled. He had a dog just like this one named Lucky, and every time he came gone, his dog would launch itself at him too. Komaeda hesitated before he put a hand on Haruki's head and started rubbing.

The dog stilled and closed his eyes before he let himself be petted. Naegi dusted the fur off her clothes and smiled. "He seems to like you. You must be a good person like I thought you were after all." Naegi sent him a big smile and Komaeda's heart sped up. "You want to come inside?"

Komaeda shook his head. "I wouldn't want to disturb your family."

Naegi frowned. "I'm the only one living here at the moment. My parents went with my sister at her new school. They make sure to come back on holidays though."

Komaeda's eyes widened. "They left you here alone? What if something happens to you?"

Naegi laughed. "It's okay. I'm already seventeen going to eighteen in a few months you know. I'm old enough to be by myself. Besides, I do know martial arts so I'll be fine." She finished with a thumps up.

Komaeda instantly relaxed. "I still can't stay though, maybe next time. I have a dog at home who will worry if I'm not home soon."

Naegi's eyes brightened. "Bring him next time! I love dogs!"

Komaeda couldn't say no to that face so he promised he would bring Lucky next time. After making sure Naegi was safely inside, Komaeda walked a few feet before he crouched down and put a hand on his chest.

That was seriously close! He and Naegi, alone at her house? Komaeda shook his head. No way. That was seriously bad for his heart. He was a still a boy damn it! As soon as Naegi had made the suggestion, certain images of what he'd like to do to her in her house flashed in his head.

"Oh crap," he mumbled. "Maybe I _am_ in love." he mumbled as he tried to calm his racing heart.

* * *

As soon as he reached his house and he'd fed Lucky, Komaeda took out and read the _GTO_ volume that Naegi had lent him three times before he went to bed. The book smelled like Naegi's perfume, black currant and vanilla.

That night, Komaeda slept with Naegi's scent on his nose and smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

"Some people like drama so much that they have to start inventing things because real life isn't interesting enough for them."  
― **Lisa Ballantyne** , **The Guilty One**

Chapter 3

Ruruka Andoh narrowed her eyes in disgust at the two people laughing in line at the cafeteria. Komaeda Nagito and Naegi Makoto. Ever since that Naegi girl had started hanging out with that loser Komaeda, people had decided that he couldn't be that bad if _Naegi_ was hanging out with him.

Ruruka sneered as she absentmindedly fed her current boyfriend, Sohnosuke Izayoi, one of her homemade dumplings. She'd heard of this Naegi Makoto of course. Next to herself and Junko Enoshima, Makoto Naegi was pretty popular in school. It seems the stupid girl was friends with practically everyone in this god damn school. Ruruka had even seen her talking and laughing with one of the janitors. The janitors!

This was completely unacceptable. She wasn't going to stand for this. Komaeda Nagito had humiliated her in front of her friends when he'd refused her advances. Her friends had dared her to sleep with the pathetic boy; she wasn't really going to do it. She had been planning to reject him as soon as he agreed just to prove to her friends that she could have any boy she wanted.

The rejection had come as a complete surprise to her; she'd never been denied anything. She would just have to ask and she would get whatever she wanted. That prick had even looked at her in repulse when she'd asked him! The nerve!

That's when she decided to make his life a living hell. With the help of her friend, Saionji, they had quickly made up a rumor of him supposedly assaulting her. Soon enough people kept coming to her and asking if she was okay and if she needed anything. And all the while Ruruka had watched in delight as the rest of the student body started looking at Komaeda Nagito with disgust in their eyes.

What she enjoyed the most though, was telling Kuzuryu and Owada that the boy had started stalking her too. The anger those two showed on her behalf still made her feel all tingly inside. Soon enough, the rest of the boys in the school started hounding him. Whenever they'd see him, they would casually place their foot in his path to make him fall. Whenever he passed the hall, people would call him names. At one point, Sakakura had even tried to punch the guy before a teacher passed by and the little prick had gotten away. The damage had been though, and the last few weeks had been absolute bliss. She'd completely isolated Komaeda Nagito.

Ruruka smiled and closed her eyes at the lovely memories before she heard sweet-sounding laughter from the cafeteria line and her rage returned in full. Naegi Makoto had spoiled her fun the day she started hanging out with that dweeb. She clearly had to be taught a lesson, for her own good of course.

As she finished feeding her boyfriend the last of her homemade dumplings, an idea sprang in her head and she turned and gently cupped Izayoi's face in her hands. She made sure to make her face as angelic as she could before she leaned in close and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. The boy looked dazed as he stared at her in wonder. "You love me right?" he nodded. "So you'll do anything I ask of you, right?" he gave her another nod and Ruruka's smile turned absolutely wicked. "There's a certain girl I need you to scare. She's been very mean to me you see, so she needs to be taught a lesson. Can you do that for me, pretty please?" Ruruka grabbed his hand and placed it on her right breast. His eyes widened before they became glazed in pleasure.

"Anything for you Ruruka. Anything." He whispered.

Ruruka smiled and patted his head. "Good boy."

* * *

Naegi Makoto was in a good mood as she finished drying her hands in the restroom. Komaeda had started walking her home after school for the past week and she couldn't be happier. He'd started opening up to her, and had even started smiling in public too. Kuzuryu and Owada had stopped their bullying once she'd had a talk with them.

They still glared at him every now and then, but at least they weren't harassing him anymore. Some of the girls still looked weary around him so she'd have to talk to them soon. She wasn't worried though; she had hope that everything would turn out all right.

Classes had already ended, but Naegi had decided to go to the restroom to wash of the stickiness of the candy that Junko had given her in class before she made her way to the library. She was so busy scrubbing her hands that she didn't notice the boy behind her until a hand snaked around her middle and the other one covered her mouth. Naegi's eyes widened and she began to trash. Her elbow made contact with something and the guy grunted in pain before he tightened his hold on her.

A girl's laugh suddenly sounded and Naegi turned her eyes in the direction the noise had come from. Her eyes narrowed in anger as she looked at the smiling face of Ruruka Andoh. If Ruruka was here, then the guy holding her had to be Sohnosuke Izayoi.

Ruruka laughed again before she fully entered the bathroom. Saionji Hiyoko poked her head inside and glanced at Naegi in annoyance before she turned towards Ruruka. "The cost is clear." The blonde haired girl said before she closed the door and went back to guard duty.

Ruruka stepped up to Naegi and pinched her cheek. "You just had to spoil my fun, didn't you?" She shook her head at her in disappointment before she took a step back and gave Izayoi a nod.

Izayoi cupped Naegi's breasts tightly and Naegi couldn't help but let out a whimper. That was definitely going to bruise.

"Here's the deal you bitch. You're going to stay away from Komaeda Nagito, and when people ask you why you had this sudden change of attitude, you're going to tell them that he tried to assault you too. Got it?"

Naegi spat in her face. "Screw you Ruruka. You don't get to play with people like this, it's not right!"

Ruruka wiped the spit from her cheek in disgust before she grabbed a handful of Naegi's hair and pulled. Naegi didn't even flinch but she inwardly grimaced. Izayoi's hand snaked downward and Naegi had enough.

Before either of them could react, Naegi rammed her elbow in Izayoi's stomach and he let her go in surprise before she turned and kneed him where it hurts. He went down with a groan and Naegi turned her attention to Ruruka who had ran once Naegi had gotten out of Izayoi's hold and was heading to the door before Naegi grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her back. Ruruka screamed and Saionji burst into the restroom. Saionji took one look at her friends and launched herself at Naegi.

Naegi simply threw Ruruka at her and both girls went down screaming. Izayoi was already on his feet and heading her way, Naegi turned and did a roundhouse kick that sent him crashing into one of the stalls.

Just then the doors burst open and Junko Enoshima and Komaeda Nagito rushed inside only to stop and gape at them. Komaeda took in Naegi's disheveled hair and immediately rushed to her side.

"Are you okay? What happened? Did they hurt you?"

Naegi gave him a tired smile. "I'm okay Komaeda. I have a bit of a headache, but I'm all right."

Junko took out her phone and snickered as she took pictures of Ruruka and her friends. Ruruka glowered in her direction before she and Saionji got up. Ruruka made her way over to Izayoi and pulled him to his feet before she started herding them to the door.

Ruruka threw a glare in their direction. "This isn't over you stupid bitch, I'll get you back for this, that's a promise!" And with that they disappeared.

Junko whistled. "Damn, I've never seen her so mad. I love it!"

Komaeda and Naegi frowned at her. Junko walked up to Naegi and lifted her chin and turned it both ways. Satisfied that she had no injuries, Junko stepped away and started heading out the door. "If you decide to wage war against her, let me know! I'll gladly join, and make sure you get Naegi home safe you dweeb! Bye bye!"

Komaeda frowned at her again before he turned his attention back to Naegi. "Was this…because of me?"

"Don't worry about it. That girl is crazy, she had it coming."

Komaeda reached a hand as if to touch her before deciding against it. "Let's get you home."

Naegi quickly picked up her messenger bag and followed him out the door. Komaeda kept glancing her all the way home. Once they were in front of her house, Naegi turned to go inside only to be pulled back by her arm. Startled, Naegi turned towards her friend.

Komaeda took a deep breath before he looked up at her. "If it's all right with you, I'd like to come inside."

Naegi could only nod in surprise before she walked up to her porch and opened the door. Once they were both inside, Naegi was about to offer to give Komaeda a tour of the house before he suddenly pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Komaeda?"

Komaeda only held her tighter and mumbled something into her hair. He was a head taller than her. "Komaeda?" she tried again.

"I'm glad you're all right. If you got hurt, I don't think I could stand it."

Naegi relaxed and closed her eyes. She couldn't hug him back since her hands were trapped between his their chests, so she merely leaned into the touch. And for a long while, they just stood there before Komaeda finally pulled away and placed a kiss on her forehead before abruptly leaving.

Naegi touched the spot in surprise and blinked. She didn't understand why her heart had decided to speed up.


	4. Chapter 4

"...he's just so out-of-this-world. They don't make them like that anymore."  
― **Camilla Isley** , **I Wish for You**

Chapter 4

"Why are you so quiet today?" Hinata asked. He and Komaeda were watching a movie together on the couch that Sunday afternoon.

Komaeda frowned. "I'm watching a movie. It's polite to be quiet."

Hinata snorted and picked up his soda from the coffee table to take a sip. "You always talk during a movie."

"I do not."

"Yeah, you do. You predict what's going to happen all the time."

"Gee, thanks for telling me. I'll make sure not to do it anymore."

Hinata paused the movie and smacked his friend upside the head. "Spill."

Komaeda sighed and ruffled his hair. As quickly as he could he told his friend what had happened that Friday afternoon with Ruruka and Naegi and how in the end he had kissed her forehead before abruptly leaving after walking her home.

Hinata scowled and cursed. "Naegi is okay though right?"

Komaeda nodded quickly. "I don't know what Ruruka and her friends were trying to do to her but it looks like Naegi won."

Hinata grinned and laughed. "It looks like she's still taking Martials arts at least," he crossed his legs under him and turned to his friend, "And about the kiss, I don't think she'll be bothered by it. Though you should probably just confess already." He muttered the quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Komaeda frowned but let it go. He twiddled his fingers anxiously before he looked up at Hinata's green eyes. "Maybe I should stop hanging out with her. Naegi would be better off that way."

He let out a yelp as his friend pinched his cheek. "You do that and you'll just hurt her feelings. Just let things play out, I'm sure things will work out. Plus, after spring week I'll be an official student at your school too."

Komaeda's eyes widened. "Your parents let you transfer?"

Hinata grinned and got off the couch as he looked up at the ceiling. "Yep, I finally get to leave that all boys school. I'll get to see girls again!" he yelled, a few tears slid down his cheeks and Komaeda laughed again. After spring break Komaeda thought, so three more weeks then. Having Hinata around will definitely be better.

* * *

Monday finally arrived and Komaeda had gotten up earlier than usual. He actually had time to eat breakfast _and_ feed Lucky. It seemed his neighbor, Mrs. Takeshi, had brought him some groceries that morning. Ever since his parents had died two years ago in a plane crash, his neighbor kept checking up on him. One time she had run into him at the grocery store and noticed all he had on his cart was junk food. She'd scolded him and had promised to bring him groceries every week. Komaeda offered to pay her, his parents had left him a fortune, but she had declined. All she asked in return was to come eat dinner with her and her husband every now and then and they'd be even. Komaeda had agreed, and made sure to bring them gifts whenever he visited.

Komaeda put away the groceries in the fridge and after he finished washing his plate, headed off. Since it was still early, he decided to take the longer route to school. Komaeda was busy looking at the Sakura trees when he saw a familiar brunette on the opposite street. Naegi was sitting at a bench with her eyes closed. Probably listening to some music, judging by the earphones on her ears. Komaeda took a shaky breath to calm his nerves and crossed the street to meet her.

As soon as he was five feet in front of her, Naegi opened her eyes. She blinked at him before a smile bloomed on her face. Komaeda couldn't help but smile back at her; it was like just being in her presence unconsciously brought out a smile out of him. She patted the spot next to her and Komaeda took a seat. Naegi offered him an earphone and Komaeda put it on his ear before leaning back on the beach. A woman's voice started singing and Komaeda glanced at Naegi who had already closed her eyes again. Her hair was still wet from the shower she probably just took and _god,_ she smelled absolutely fantastic.

Komaeda breathed in her scent, black currant and vanilla, before he closed his eyes and listened to the music. He didn't know how long they sat there, but he heard four different songs before Naegi pulled on his sleeve to get him up. Once they started walking Naegi turned to him. "Did you like any of the songs?"

Komaeda let out a whoosh of air before he turned to her. "Oh my god. _Yes._ That second song was amazing. It was a different artist right? I loved how it started with the piano."

Naegi nodded excitably, her eyes were smiling. " _Raise the Dead by Rachel Robin._ I love that song! The way it starts with the piano and they way her voice gets louder at the end-amazing!"

Komaeda could see the top of the school building by now. "It's definitely amazing. That other song too, the one with the guy singing-that one was pretty good too."

They were pulling up to the school gates. Komaeda didn't want the conversation to end yet. He was dimly aware of the other students glancing at them.

Komaeda ignored them.

"Oh that was probably _Titus Was Born by Young the Giant,"_ Naegi said, "I'll show you their other albums later, they're one of my favorites too."

Ruruka and her boyfriend were glaring at them but Komaeda ignored them too.

They were still talking when they reached Naegi's locker. Komaeda simply leaned against one of the lockers and nodded whenever it was appropriate. A few girls passed by and said good morning to Naegi before eyeing him warily. One of the girls stopped and mumbled a small good morning to him too before she was dragged away by her friend.

Komaeda looked at Naegi in surprise. She simply shrugged and said they were probably starting to warm up to him. Komaeda snorted but felt a little happy nonetheless.

* * *

Naegi tried to remember the first time she saw him.

Because she could, Naegi had always had a pretty good memory after all. And remembering the first time she saw Komaeda Nagito came pretty easily to her. How could it not, when he had bumped into her and sent them both crashing to the floor?

The first thing she noticed was his hair. That unruly, shoulder-length messy hair that was in need of a haircut. And then his eyes, she'd never seen anyone with grayish green eyes like his before. He'd apologized to her before scrambling to his feet and running off somewhere at top speed. Soon after, a few boys ran after him. Kuzuryu and Owada were two that she recognized. Junko and Celestia who were with her at the time had scowled in his direction before they helped her up.

When Naegi had asked about him, all they had said was that he was bad news and that she should stay away from him. Naegi couldn't help but look after him. He had a pretty cool jacket she had thought.

She remembered feeling bad for him. People seemed to treat him pretty bad. Remembered seeing Kuzuryu stick out his leg during lunch when he passed by, making Komaeda fall face-first on his own food.

The rest of the students who had seen the whole thing had laughed at him as he got up. His cheeks had turned red from embarrassment, but he had simply dusted himself off before leaving the cafeteria.

She couldn't help but think he was pretty cool. Naegi couldn't help but stick out her own foot when Kuzuryu walked by her. She was gone by the time he'd gotten to his feet but his cursing could still be heard as she left the cafeteria. Naegi had smiled.

The next time she saw him was on a weekend. An elderly lady was having trouble crossing the street with all the bags she was carrying. Naegi had been on her way to help her out when she spotted a familiar head of white make his way to the old lady and she'd hurriedly hid behind a pole to see.

The woman sent him a relieved smile as Komaeda Nagito took her bags in one of his hands and offered her his other arm to cross the street. Naegi was still staring at him as he bade the woman goodbye and stuffed his hands on his pockets before turning a corner and disappearing.

The fourth time she saw him was after school at the library. Junko and Asahina had begged her to help them with their homework at the library when he had walked in. Students had turned to see who had come, and once they saw that it was none other than Komaeda Nagito, chairs scraped as everyone scowled and hurriedly left the library. Junko and Asahina had dragged her with them but Naegi glanced back to see Komaeda's lip wobbling. He then bit his lip and selected a book at random and taken a seat at one of the tables. His back straight, his shoulders tense.

Naegi instantly felt bad and had brushed off her friends' hands before making her way back to the library. She picked a book she had wanted to read for a while and took a seat next to him. He'd glanced at her in surprise before looking around. Probably wondering why she'd taken a seat next to him when there were other tables around.

He didn't say anything though and his tense shoulders began to gradually relax as time passed by. Naegi smiled internally and continued reading her book. After that, the whole "my- stomach-is-growling-how-embarrassing scene happened and Naegi had wanted to sink to the floor. She'd forgotten her wallet that day, and although her friends had offered to share some of their food with her, she had refused. Perhaps she should have taken their food offer after all she'd thought as she hurriedly got up and went to the restroom.

Thankfully, the school bell had rung and Naegi had thanked whatever gods had been listening to her before she made her way out and noticed the yogurt sitting on her desk. She looked around, but it seems Komaeda Nagito had already left. Still…she couldn't help but smile as she picked up the little treat.

She'd wanted to thank him for the yogurt by giving him something in return. After calling her mom to ask her how to make cookies, she had pulled up her sleeves and gotten to work. It wasn't until the fourth batch that she was satisfied. Cooking was hard. She'd wanted to give it to him in person but her friends had insisted she help them with their homework. And so, after finally agreeing, she quickly made her way to the library and left the cookies on his usual seat. She frowned and quickly took out a post-it from her bag and scribbled something before placing it on the small bag and left the library.

The next day, Naegi had kept glancing at him from the corner of her eye all day at school. Had he not liked the cookies? Perhaps he hadn't even tried them. Naegi deflated at the thought. When she made her way to the library after school, she had already managed to make herself depressed. She had taken her seat next to him, but he didn't say anything. Biting her lip, Naegi inwardly sighed and began to read when he cleared his throat and spoke up.

She glanced at him in surprise.

"The cookies," he said, while fiddling with his a strand of his hair, "they were good."

Naegi smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. "I'm glad," She said.

Not knowing what else to say, Naegi got out her ipod and put on her earphones. Midway through a song, she noticed him staring at her every now and then. She smiled and offered him her right earphone.

He jumped in surprise and Naegi smiled. "Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Sure, here."

Once he'd put on the right earphone she told him the name of the song before she leaned close to him and said, "By the way, I'm Naegi Makoto, it's nice to meet you."

Komaeda had turned red and Naegi couldn't help but think it was adorable. "Komaeda Nagito. It's nice to meet you too."

I know she'd wanted to say.

I'd wanted to talk you for a while.

I think you're pretty amazing.

Knowing that that would be creepy, Naegi had simply leaned closer and smiled at him. She had a feeling that they were going to become good friends. She was absolutely positive.


	5. Chapter 5

"I didn't fall in love with you...I flew."  
― **Colleen Hoover** , **Ugly Love**

Chapter 5

"What are you doing?"

Naegi placed her notes on the desk before looking up at Komaeda. "Studying."

Komaeda scrunched up his face. "I can see that. Why though?"

"You know we have tests for all of next week right?"

Komaeda's eyes bugged out. "…Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Komaeda closed his book and took out some papers. "Maybe I should study too…"

Naegi inclined her head. "Go for it."

Komaeda scratched his head. "If there's something I don't understand…can you help me out?"

Naegi glanced up from her notes. "Only if I know the information."

Komaeda looked relieved. "Yeah that's fine. Thanks."

"Sure thing."

* * *

The next day Naegi blinked owlishly at Komaeda's dark spots under his eyes. "What happened?"

Komaeda stifled a yawn. "Was studying all night long. I'm not very good at math."

Naegi giggled and took her seat. "Same. Math is the worst."

For a while they worked in silence until Komaeda spoke up. "If I manage to get a good grade…will you pat my head?"

Naegi looked at him in surprise. His face had turned red and he kept playing with a strand of his hair. "Is that all you want?"

"Yeah. Only…if it's okay though."

Naegi laughed. "Sure thing."

Naegi wasn't sure, but she could have sworn he did a fist pump. Maybe she'd imagined it.

* * *

The next few days passed in a blur. Komaeda and Naegi studied after school that whole week until the first test day. Komaeda was actually pretty smart she noticed. Once the concept was explained in simple terms, he had no problems. Naegi sneezed and wiped her nose. She started feeling tired lately. It was probably nothing she surmised.

Naegi was pretty confident in History and English, math on the other hand…she did the best she could. She was a little surprised when they were tested in their P.E. class too. She did not like doing all those push-ups and sit-ups. Running she could handle just fine, it didn't leave her as winded. Sakura promised to come and train with her when she saw she had trouble with the sit-ups and push-ups.

Naegi blanched. Not that she didn't like Sakura, she did, but she tended to yell at her a lot during training. She'd make them train for at least three hours and by the end, Naegi's muscles would be crying for mercy. She suddenly sneezed and wiped her nose with the tissue Sakura had handed her. Maybe she was coming down with something.

Friday finally rolled around and tests were handed back. Naegi's head was pounding; she didn't feel too good. Naegi heard a few whines from some of her classmates and turned. Hagakure was down right sobbing on his desk. She winced. Maybe she'd help him study next time. Naegi took a deep breath and turned her papers around and instantly smiled. She'd passed everything. A few A's and a few B's but still good.

Asahina and Fujisaki turned to her from their seats.

"Aww, you passed everything! I'm so jealous; math was my worst subject." Asahina whined from her seat.

Fujisaki looked down at her papers. "I did okay, but my worst score was P.E. the teacher said I should exercise more."

"Same for me, I don't know why he said that. I'm in great shape." Yamada piped in.

The rest of her classmates, including herself, glanced at him and then his body. Naegi bit her lip.

Owada snorted. "Yeah fucking right. Take the advice dude."

Touko scowled at him from her seat. "He's saying you're f-f-fat! Great shape my butt!"

Togami snorted and continued to ignore them all by going back to reading. Kirigiri glanced up from her book and smiled a little before going back to her book. Sakura simply crossed her arms and leaned back on her seat. Celestia giggled behind her hand before she took a sip of her tea. Where had she even stashed that?

Junko was laughing at Yamada whose face had turned red in anger. Mukuro tried to calm her sister down and Leon put on his headphones and ignored them all.

Maizono looked at Naegi and giggled while Ishimaru was trying to dismiss the class to no avail.

* * *

When Naegi finally made it to the library, Komaeda was already there. As soon as she took her seat, he shoved a few papers in her face. Naegi calmly took them and glanced at them one by one, a lot of B's and just one C.

Komaeda looked proud. Naegi nodded and handed him the papers back. "That's good." She said.

Komaeda and beamed and made a circle with his finger on the table. "Don't forget your promise." He mumbled.

Naegi blinked at him in confusion before she remembered. Naegi got up from her seat, she ignored the sudden dizziness she felt, and placed her hand on Komaeda's head. "Congratulations Komaeda. You did great. I'm sure that next time you'll do even better!"

Komaeda's face turned red and he started at her as she continued to pat his head. Just as she was putting down her hand, his arm reached out and took it before he pulled her closer and kissed her.

Naegi's eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. Komaeda used the opportunity to put his tongue inside her mouth. The pounding in her head grew louder and Naegi pushed him away with one hand. Her other hand went to her mouth before she hastily picked up her bag and ran out the room.

What had he done? Komaeda thought as he stared at Naegi's retreating form. He slammed his fist on the table before placing his head in his arms. Stupid. He was so stupid! Of course she didn't like him that! Now he'd messed everything up.

He stayed there a little longer before he decided to go home. Tomorrow was the start of spring break so he wouldn't see her for a whole week.

"I'm an idiot," he mumbled.

* * *

"So, did you get rejected or something?" Hinata asked him the following Monday.

Komaeda glared at him and took another sip of his grape juice. "I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled.

"Well something must have happened for you to be this depressed. So come one, spill."

Komaeda lay on his side and hugged his pillow close to him. Hinata scooted on the couch to give him more room. "I kissed her and stuck my tongue in her mouth." He said quietly.

Hinata promptly spit his drink. "Wait, was this before or after you confessed?"

Komaeda grew quiet.

Hinata raised an eyebrow at him as he got up and took another drink of grape juice. He hiccupped. "You did confess right?"

Komaeda didn't say anything.

Hinata narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh my god, tell me you didn't just tick your tongue in her mouth without telling her anything?"

Komaeda's face turned red. Hinata slapped his head. "Idiot! No wonder she ran! Probably thought you were a pervert or something!"

Komaeda scowled at him and took another sip of his grape juice. "It doesn't matter, she rejected me anyway."

Hinata let out a massive sigh before he took his friends cup from him and snorted. "Only you would get drunk off grape juice," He scratched his head, "Just talk to her the next time you see her. Explain. And this time make sure you actually confess!"

Komaeda mumbled incoherently and Hinata barked at him. "Is that understood!"

Komaeda stumbled to his feet and saluted. "Yes sir!"

Hinata crossed his arms and gave him a firm nod. Komaeda started heading for the door. "I better go," he mumbled, "It looks like it'll rain."

Hinata frowned after him. "Want me to walk you back?"

Komaeda simply waved him off. "I'll be off Hinata, see you next time."

* * *

Komaeda was only walking for a few minutes before it started raining. He let out a groan and continued walking. His thoughts were on Naegi.

He stumbled and leaned on a wall. "I want to see her…"he whispered as he slid to the floor. "I want to hear her voice, her laugh, see her eyes bright up when the light hits her just right…"

Komaeda crouched down on the floor as memory after memory assaulted him. The day Naegi and he had spoken for the first time. The day he'd worked up the courage to walk her home. How much she laughed as she read that manga. How she'd lend him her earphone and let him listen to her music. When he and Junko had burst into the restroom to see Naegi with her hair mussed but looking victorious. She'd done that for him. He recognized Ruruka as one of the people who had bullied him and knew that she'd stood up for him.

But more than anything, he remembered how she looked right after he'd kissed her. She'd looked scared. He had done that. He was the one who made her show that expression. Komaeda banged his head on the wall. He was so stupid. She was better off without him.

"Naegi," he whispered. "I want to see you."

"What are you doing here?" a voice behind him said. Komaeda opened his eyes and looked at the figure hovering over him. He blinked. And then he blinked again. Komaeda slowly got up and turned to look at the person better.

"Naegi?" he whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Naegi tilted her head before she crouched down and placed the umbrella she was holding to shield him from the rain. "This is my house you know."

Komaeda blinked in confusion and looked at his surroundings. Now that she mentioned it…how had he gotten here?

Naegi continued. "I couldn't sleep because Haruki is afraid of thunder when I saw someone on the floor in front of my house. When I looked closer I noticed it was you." Naegi took in his red face. "Are you drunk? You look drunk, but you smell like grape juice."

"It's my weakness," he mumbled.

Naegi paused. "Seriously?" she sounded surprised.

Komaeda dragged himself and hugged Naegi's stomach. "You should give me your email."

Naegi placed her hand on his head. "Where did that come from?"

Komaeda hugged her tighter. "I'll be fine if I have a way to contact you. I promise."

Naegi hummed and played with a few of his strands. Komaeda let out a sound that sounded like a purr strangely enough. "Why don't you come inside and we'll talk there?"

Komaeda lifted his face a little. "I can go to your house?"

Naegi nodded and started to get up. Komaeda had no choice but let her go. He only managed a few steps before he stumbled. Naegi placed one of his arms around her shoulder and dragged him inside. She didn't seem to notice how wet her clothes had gotten.

As soon as they stepped inside Haruki bounded up to them and licked Naegi's fingers. His friend dragged him to the couch before he made him sit down. She ignored his protests of him dirtying her couch before she made her way to the kitchen.

Komaeda shivered and put his arms around himself. Haruki stared at him from his position on the floor. After a few minutes, Naegi walked back in with a few towels and a mug on her other hand.

She offered him the mug, which he took with a small thanks as she began to dry his hair. Komaeda took a sip of the hot cocoa and let out a sound of content, he felt a little better.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," she said. Komaeda instantly tensed. "It's about that kiss." Naegi took a small breath. "You see-"

Komaeda interrupted her. "It's okay Naegi. I won't do it again. I'm sorry I didn't realize that you didn't like me like that." He let out a small laugh, "I shouldn't be surprised at this point. Of course you wouldn't want a loser like me. I totally get it."

Naegi paused and looked down at him. Komaeda averted her eyes and looked down before he took a deep breath. "I just want us to go back to being friends. I can live with that."

Silence.

Komaeda tensed and waited.

Naegi merely went back to drying his hair. "What I wanted to say before you rudely interrupted me was that I was okay with the kiss."

Komaeda almost dropped his mug.

"What?" he whispered.

Naegi hummed. "I think I'm probably in love with you. Had been for a while probably."

Komaeda's jaw dropped.

He tried and failed to say anything for a while before he hastily brought a hand up. "Wait…what?"

Naegi looked at him quizzically. "Did you not understand?"

"Wait, wait wait, what about what happened last week? Didn't you reject me?"

Naegi tilted her head before she brought the towel to her own head and started drying it. "I did?"

Komaeda furiously nodded his head. "I kissed you and you just picked up your stuff and left!"

Realization dawned on her. "Oh that," she said casually, "I was sick."

Komaeda jaw dropped again and Naegi promptly closed it for him.

"You…were sick?"

Naegi nodded. "Yup. I started feeling bad a few days before the test. When you kissed me, the world was already tilting and I couldn't think. I didn't want you to catch my cold so I left."

Komaeda looked like a gaping fish.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for you to take it the wrong way."

Komaeda slid to the floor and let out a massive sigh. "Oh man."

Naegi crouched down and put her chin on her hand. "So, what about you?"

Komaeda blinked at her. "Huh?"

"Are you in love with me?"

Komaeda's face turned scarlet before he tried to get up only to land on his butt.

"So?"

Komaeda stuttered and tried to form words.

Naegi frowned at him. "It's a very simple question. Yes or No."

Komaeda gulped and looked her in the eye. "I am." He declared, "The day you started staying in the library…I knew about you even before we met. I couldn't stop thinking about you."

Naegi smiled and it was so beautiful that Komaeda couldn't hold himself back anymore before he pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely. Naegi put a hand out and put some distance between them.

"I'm still sick you know. We'll have to refrain from kissing until I'm better."

It was only then that Komaeda noticed how red her nose looked. Adorable he thought. She was absolutely adorable. As his gaze traveled downward, he noticed how drenched her clothes were. So were his. That was definitely not going to help her recovery process.

He promptly looked away and offered her the towel. He could totally see her bra!

"I'm staying over," he mumbled.

Naegi took the towel and blinked at him. "Sure I don't mind. You should take a shower before you get sick. I'll wait"

Komaeda looked back at her angrily. "Like hell," he got up the floor and pulled her with him before he started herding them upstairs. "You're the sick one, you need it more than me."

She looked like she was going to argue but one look at his expression and she promptly closed her mouth. As soon as he found the restroom, he all but shoved her in there. He was about to head back downstairs before he turned, opened the bathroom door and stormed inside. Naegi looked at him surprise before he grabbed her face and kissed her again. He made sure to swirl his tongue with her for a few seconds longer before he backed away. Naegi's face was absolutely scarlet.

"Just wanted to kiss you one more time," he said, and closed the bathroom door behind him.

"Komaeda! No fair!" Naegi yelled from inside. Komaeda snickered.

* * *

Once they'd both taken a shower and dressed, Naegi had lent him some of her dad's clothes, they made their way to her room. Naegi's room was pretty big. She had a bunch of shelves brimming with all kinds of books. Her curtains matched her purple and black bed covers and she had a bunch of CD'S scattered on her desk next to her headphones.

"I'm sleeping here too," Komaeda declared as he pulled back the covers and slid into bed. Naegi merely rolled her eyes at him in amusement before she slid under the covers as well. Haruki came in after then and made himself comfortable on his doggy bed on the floor.

For a while they just lay there in silence before Komaeda turned on his side to face her. "I want to kiss you again."

"I'm definitely going to get you sick. We better not."

Komaeda pouted and pulled her to his side. "It's okay, I'm pretty lucky I doubt ill catch your cold."

Naegi sent him an angry pout. Komaeda gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before he buried his nose in her hair. After a while Naegi's breathing evened out and she fell asleep. Komaeda glanced down at her and traced her cheek with his finger. Beautiful he thought. His hands tightened around her before he kissed her forehead and buried his nose in her hair again.

Komaeda had pleasant dreams that day.


	6. Chapter 6

"New month, new intentions, new goals, new love, new light, and new beginnings."  
― **April Mae Monterrosa**

Chapter 6

Komaeda woke up Tuesday morning to an empty bed and frowned. He yawned and stretched an arm out. Naegi's side of the mattress was still warm so she couldn't have been gone long. Komaeda got up and stretched a little more before he swung his legs to the side and attempted to leave the bed. Key word attempted. As soon as he took a step forward he tripped on something and went down on the floor.

Komaeda groaned and looked at the object that had caused his fall. A guitar was half sticking out of the bed. He gingerly got to his feet and picked it up before examining it. He didn't know much about guitars, but he was pretty sure it was an acoustic guitar. It looked to be in good shape; Komaeda didn't know Naegi played the guitar. The more you know he thought.

He placed the guitar by the desk and quickly made the bed, he was still a guest after all. Once that was done he started looking for Naegi. Scratch that. His girlfriend. Komaeda covered his face in embarrassment. He still couldn't believe that he had a girlfriend now. Komaeda's smile was so wide it hurt.

His mood instantly soured when he heard a sneeze and then a crash downstairs. Komaeda quickly ran downstairs only to find Naegi crouched down and picking up the broken shards with her hands. He let out a curse and went to her side immediately.

Naegi looked at him in surprise. "Shouldn't you still be sleeping? It's still early."

"I should be saying that to you," he countered. Komaeda peered at her face and put a hand on her forehead. "You're burning up! You should be in bed."

Naegi glanced to the side, "I was going to make breakfast," she mumbled. Komaeda's heart skipped a bit and a small smile appeared on his face. Komaeda quickly scooped her up bridal style, Naegi yelped in surprise, before he climbed the stairs and placed her on the bed.

"You stay in bed. I'll make breakfast," He said.

Naegi raised an eyebrow at him. "You can cook?"

"…It's edible," he mumbled.

Naegi giggled. "Okay, I'll stay in bed. Try not to burn the house down."

Komaeda looked at her seriously. "Don't worry, I have the fire department on speed dial."

Naegi didn't know if he was joking or not. Before she could ask him, he was already gone.

* * *

Okay, he could do this he thought. It was just making breakfast. Anyone could do it. Komaeda made his way to the fridge and after looking around took out some eggs, bacon and sausages. He'd made eggs before, sure the first few attempts they have come out black but he'd gotten better recently. At least he hoped so.

After sending Hinata a quick text to take care of Lucky and bring some medicine, Komaeda stood at the counter looking over the ingredients. After looking inside the cabinets, he finally found the pans and set them on the burners before setting to work.

When Komaeda made it upstairs with both plates on hand, he found Naegi sleeping with the TV on. She must have dozed off he realized. On the nightstand, her phone continued beeping with unanswered texts. After shaking her awake, he set the plate on her lap before he lay next to her and stretched out his legs. Naegi took a bite of her food and paused.

"Does it not taste good?" he asked worriedly.

Naegi chewed slowly and swallowed. "It's…good," she finally said. "Just wish there weren't any eggs shells."

Komaeda's face warmed. "Oh god, I'm so sorry! Here, I'll throw it away!"

Naegi lifted her plate away from him. "I never said it wasn't good. Besides," she took another bite of her food, "I heard eggshells are full of calcium so it cant be that bad."

Komaeda laughed and ruffled her hair before he dug into his own food. Oh. Wow. Naegi was being _really_ nice. His food had…an interesting flavor but it still seemed edible so he made sure to eat everything on his plate.

After Naegi had replied to some of the text messages that she had received, she dozed off a little later, this time Komaeda let her sleep in peace. Hinata arrived a few hours later with cold medicine before leaving for work. Once he placed a wet towel on Naegi's forehead he curled up next to her and drifted off to sleep. He made sure to give her a spoonful of medicine every four hours.

* * *

The next day Naegi woke up bundled up in thick blankets and curled next to Komaeda who was watching something on TV. He turned to her when she began to stir.

"Hey," Komaeda whispered, smiling. Naegi curled closer to him and placed her head on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better. The bed rest and medicine seems to have worked."

Komaeda grinned. "Well that's good, because you owe me some kisses."

Naegi poked his cheek. "Ha ha, nice try. I still have a runny nose so you'll have to wait."

Komaeda groaned. "That's not fair."

"It is if you don't want to get sick."

"Can I have just one?" he pleaded.

"Nope."

Komaeda gave her the best puppy eyes he could muster and Naegi groaned. She could already feel her resolve crumbling.

"Pretty please?" he tried again.

How was it possible for him to be this adorable Naegi thought as she let out another groan and pulled him to her to kiss him. Komaeda snickered and brought her closer. After the third kiss Naegi waved him off and Komaeda pouted. They decided to spend the rest of the day in bed watching TV, and when they got hungry Komaeda wisely chose to order pizza.

The sound of the continuous doorbell interrupted their _Game of Thrones_ marathon and both of them groaned. Komaeda got up before Naegi and made his way downstairs.

"Make sure you pause that!" he yelled back. Naegi's snickering reply was not reassuring in the least.

Finally reaching the door, he turned the knob and opened the door to be met with a tall stern-faced girl with her arms crossed. Komaeda's eyes widened in recognition, if he remembered right this girl's name was Sakura Oogami. Her long white hair was pulled into a ponytail making the scar across her face even more visible.

"You're not Naegi," a voice mumbled. Komaeda brought his gaze a little lower to be met with Asahina's narrowed blue eyes. She fully stepped out behind Sakura's back and crossed her tan arms as she gazed at him.

Komaeda finally found his voice. "Naegi is upstairs. She's sick."

Both girls' eyes widened before Asahina pushed him aside and stormed inside the house before she disappeared upstairs. Sakura offered him an apology for her friends' rudeness before she too stepped inside. She offered no other pleasantries as she stood with him in the living room while she waited for Asahina to come back.

Komaeda tried not to squirm in place. It was very quiet. One couldn't help but feel intimidated in the presence of Sakura Oogami, who was said to have won in a fight between even Sakakura Juzo. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye only to find her staring at him. Komaeda jumped.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked.

Sakura continued to stare; she seemed to be sizing him up. Komaeda stopped his fidgeting and returned her gaze. Whatever she saw in his gaze must have satisfied her because her tense muscles relaxed and she offered him a smile. Komaeda instantly relaxed, and he let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Where you the one taking care of her?" she asked.

"Yes," Komaeda said straightening. "I've never really taken care of someone, but I made sure to give her plenty of rest and gave her medicine."

Sakura nodded in thanks and they both stood there in comfortable silence. A minute later, a frowning Asahina made her way downstairs.

"Well, she doesn't look too bad so I guess you're off the hook." She said as she walked to Komaeda and looked him up and down. "Be honest, did you really assault Ruruka?"

Komaeda blinked and pinched his nose in annoyance. "No, of course I didn't. She only spread that rumor because I refused her advances."

Asahina looked at him in surprise and even Sakura looked at him in bewilderment. Asahina tapped her chin as she met Sakura's eyes. "It wouldn't be the first time she's made stuff up."

Sakura nodded in agreement before Asahina turned to Komaeda once more. "I'm sorry."

Komaeda arched an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

Asahina squirmed and twiddled her thumbs. "For believing those rumors. Ruruka just sounded so truthful that I instantly believed her." She glanced at him from lowered lashes, "But then Naegi started hanging out with you, and the way she smiled around you was so dazzling…I began to have doubts. Anyway, I'm really sorry for ignoring you along with the rest of the students. I hope we can be friends from now on."

Sakura nodded in agreement and offered him an apology as well.

Komaeda looked at them both in surprise and couldn't help but pinch himself to see if this was real. His cheek hurt; definitely real then. "Apology accepted."

"You guys are friends now!"

All three turned in the direction the voice had come from to see Naegi leaning her elbows on the stairwell. Naegi's eyes were a shade of green that was a mixture of the sky and grass as she stared at them and Komaeda let out a whoosh of air at the sight.

Asahina placed her hands at her hips before she started marching in her direction, "You should be in bed! You'll never get better at this rate!" Asahina let out a little shriek. "You're not even wearing shoes!"

Sakura chuckled at the sight. "She's right you know. You should at least put some shoes on." She tilted her head. "But her coloring _does_ seem a little better."

Naegi nodded vigorously and Komaeda threw her a bemused look. Asahina was not deterred however, and in seconds she was herding Naegi back to her room. Komaeda and Sakura chuckled at Naegi's ignored protests before they too made their way upstairs.

Once Naegi saw them she beamed and patted her bed. Komaeda and Asahina took positions beside her while Sakura took a position on the floor. Once they were all seated Naegi looked at them all before she flipped the TV on and said, "By the way, Komaeda and I are dating now."

Asahina promptly fell of the bed while Sakura turned to Komaeda and offered him congratulations. Asahina got up from the floor and opened her mouth, as if to say something, but closed it. Then said, "Are you happy?"

Naegi interlaced her fingers with Komaeda's and her face softened. "Yes."

Asahina looked between the two before she nodded and settled herself next to her friend. "So, what are watching?"

Komaeda grinned at her. " _Game of Thrones."_

Sakura and Asahina's eyes sparkled in interest before they leaned back to enjoy the show.

* * *

When Monday finally rolled in, Komaeda was a nervous wreck. School was back in session and he couldn't help but be worried. People would definitely notice that he and Naegi were dating now. He just hoped they didn't start bullying Naegi because of it. Naegi just said that they'd handle it when the time came.

Together-they'd deal with it together.

As soon as he and Naegi stepped inside the school grounds, Komaeda felt the attention of the study body on them, or more precisely, on their joined hands. Some people stared, while others tried to pretend they weren't by looking down at their books. Komaeda could have sworn he saw a girl faint at the sight but maybe that was just a trick of the light.

Naegi squeezed his hand in comfort and offered him a smile, more than a few heads turned at the gesture and gaped. Naegi didn't seem to notice as she led them into the school building and stopped by her locker. Komaeda leaned back while she took out her books when and arm slapped him on the back.

"Hey guys! Did you know you're being gawked at?" Asahina said as she stopped before them. Sakura appeared a second later and glared at the girls that were whispering amongst themselves. The girls huffed and turned on their heels but a few other students lingered despite Sakura's fierce glare.

Naegi just shrugged and got on her tiptoes to give Komaeda a kiss on the cheek. "They're just jealous."

Komaeda blushed and reached out to brush his fingers over hers.

Asahina stomped her foot and said, "Ugh, stop making faces at each other! You'll make me jealous!"

The other three just chuckled before the bell rang and they parted to their respectful classes.

"I'll see you later-during lunch?" Naegi asked before she left.

An unnecessary question, but he nodded nonetheless.

Naegi beamed and sent him a last wave before she followed after her friends.

As Komaeda turned in the direction of his classroom, he couldn't help but feel that things were going to be okay.

* * *

As soon as Komaeda stepped inside the classroom, the chatter instantly stopped and everyone turned to stare at him. He calmly made his way to his desk at the end of the room and took out his materials.

"Is it true?" someone asked him.

Komaeda looked up to see Nanami Chiaki in front of him. She still had her game console in her hands, but her attention was on him.

Komaeda titled his head." Is what true?"

"About you and Naegi dating." She clarified.

Komaeda looked for any sign of malice but found none and instantly relaxed. "Yes, its true."

Chiaki smiled and took the seat next to him. "I'm glad. I was wondering when you'd start going out." She said as she turned back to her game console.

Komaeda blinked rapidly. "You knew?"

Chiaki nodded distractedly. "Yup, it was pretty obvious. I played a game like this before, so there were only a few routes you could have taken. It seems you chose the right route and got the girl at the end."

Komaeda couldn't help the widening of his eyes as he chuckled. "You approve?"

Chiaki turned to him, "Oh most definitely. Congratulations."

Just then the door to their classroom opened and in walked their teacher, Ms. Yukizome, carrying a few papers. Everyone took a random seat as she turned her large green eyes on them and she smiled in approval.

"First of all, I'd like to welcome you all back from your little vacation. Secondly," she turned to Komaeda and her smile turned mischievous, "Congratulations on your new relationship Mr. Komaeda, I wish you both happiness."

Komaeda tried not to squirm in his seat as the eyes of his classmates landed on him. A lot of people looked shocked while others like Saionji looked at him in anger.

"Thirdly," Ms. Yukizome continued, "We have a new student joining us. Come on in sweetie."

The door to the classroom opened and in walked a boy with short, spiky brown hair with an ahoge and green eyes. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black skinny jeans, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He walked to the front of the classroom and said, "Yo, the names Hinata Hajime. Hope we can all get along."

A few of the students started whispering amongst themselves while Ms. Yukizome tried to calm them down. Hinata surveyed his new classmates before his eyes settled on Komaeda and a grin spread on his face. Hinata took a step forward and took a seat on Komaeda's left side.

"Don't you want to sit somewhere else?" Saionji asked a few seats away. A scowl was on her face as her orange eyes looked at Komaeda in disgust. Koizumi and Soda nodded from their seats.

"What's wrong with where he's sitting?" Mioda asked as she tilted her head in confusion causing her multi-colored hair to hang over her shoulder as she looked at Saionji in confusion.

Saionji huffed and crossed her arms. "What's wrong? Haven't you heard? This guy is a molester and a stalker!"

Nidai frowned. "That's just a rumor though."

Tsumiki nodded nervously. "Besides, Komaeda is very nice. I don't think he'd ever do something like that."

Soda got up from his seat and pointed at Komaeda, "Ruruka said he assaulted her and was stalking him though!"

Sonia Nevermind turned her blue eyes on him and shook her head in disappointment. "This coming from the mouth of a girl who's lied time after time? Honestly Soda."

Soda shrank in his seat and Teruteru and Tanaka put a comforting hand on his shoulders. Owari looked bored and Mitarai was looking at his classmates nervously. Pekoyama just stared in silence as she looked at her master who was eerily silent.

Hinata rolled his eyes at Saionji and scoffed. "I've known Nagito for a long time, and I know that he wouldn't do something like that. So whatever you heard, it's bullshit."

Komaeda looked at him in gratitude.

Ms. Yukizome turned to him. "Mr. Hajime! Language!"

Saionji bared her teeth at him and Hinata just glared in return. After a while, Saionji scoffed and looked away. Everyone instantly relaxed and Ms. Yukizome clapped her hands to get their attention again before finally starting class.

* * *

When lunchtime finally rolled around, Saionji left in a hurry but not before giving Hinata a vulgar gesture, which he happily returned with a smirk.

Komaeda shook his head at his friend in amusement and even Chiaki giggled. Hinata turned his attention to her and his eyes widened before a blush adorned his face. A similar blush appeared on Chiaki's face before she introduced herself. Komaeda had to pinch his friend to get him to talk, but when he finally did all he could do was stutter.

Taking pity on him, Komaeda turned to Chiaki and said, "This stuttering fool's name is Hinata Hajime. I assure you, he knows how to talk properly, it just takes him a while."

Hinata glared at him and Chiaki giggled.

Komaeda got up from his seat and started tugging a protesting Hinata to the door. "There's someone I think you'll want to see, so you're coming with me. Chiaki you're free to join us if you want."

Chiaki beamed and followed after them. Only then did Hinata stop his protesting.

Komaeda snickered.

As Komaeda led Hinata and Chiaki to the roof, Hinata couldn't help but grimace at the food he'd gotten from the cafeteria.

"This is edible, right?"

Komaeda and Chiaki looked at their own lunch and grimaced. "Probably," they said.

When Komaeda opened the roofs door, Hinata and Chiaki squinted their eyes at the bright sunlight and blinked rapidly. Once their eyes had adjusted, Hinata looked around, and as his eyes settled on Naegi he grinned.

Naegi returned the grin and got up in a hurry before she squealed. Both Hinata and Naegi hurled for each other as they flung their arms around each other. Then they were laughing, and Hinata wiped Naegi's tears before they embraced each other again.

"You grew your hair," Hinata said grinning from ear to ear. "You took my advice after all."

"You grew yours too! You even spiked it-how typical-always trying to be cool," Naegi replied.

Hinata scoffed and pulled at her ahoge, "Still copying me, I see."

Naegi rolled her eyes and pulled Hinata's own ahoge, " _Please,_ if anything you're copying me!"

Naegi looked back at Komaeda and Chiaki who were looking at them both with raised eyebrows. "I didn't know you guys knew each other."

Chiaki cleared her throat. "To be fair, I just met him a while ago."

Komaeda scratched his cheek, "I kind of knew him for a while." At Naegi's glare, he lifted his hands, "I found out that you knew each other a few weeks ago."

Naegi pouted as Hinata chuckled.

"I wanted to surprise you," Komaeda said as he took her hand in his. "Did it work?"

Naegi stuck her tongue out at him but squeezed his hand.

Hinata looked back and forth at them before he elbowed Komaeda in the ribs. "You guys are a couple now? Why didn't you tell me?"

Komaeda winced and wisely moved away, "I wanted to surprise you?"

Hinata huffed but let it go.

Chiaki giggled beside him. "I hope you don't mind me joining you for lunch."

Naegi beamed at her and pulled her along to sit on the floor. "Not at all, we can always use more girls around here."

Hinata snorted before he and Komaeda sat down besides them. A minute later, Sakura and Asahina came and joined them for lunch.

Even Junko came to eat with them to Naegi's surprise. As soon as the blonde's blue eyes landed on Naegi, she sat down and clutched her arm. "I won fifty dollars thanks to you!"

Asahina and Sakura said the same thing.

"What did you guys bet on?" Naegi asked them.

Junko started inspecting her nails. "Oh you know, the usual. Whether you and Komaeda here would get together during our little vacation. Most of our classmates won, except for Hagakure but he's an idiot so whatever."

Naegi grappled for words but gave up after a while and just stuck her tongue at them before leaning on Komaeda's shoulder.

After that, the chatter resumed and as Komaeda took in the open sky above them, brilliantly blue as any other day, he felt contempt and thought that things were going to be all right.


	7. Chapter 7

" **Happiness is BBQ, friends & backyard."**

Chapter 7

"Hey, did you hear about Komaeda and Naegi?"

"What about them?"

"They're totally dating!"

"What? No way!"

"Yeah, it's true! I saw them holding hands the other day!"

"You guys talking about Naegi and Komaeda? I think they're cute together."

"You know, that Komaeda guy isn't that bad actually. The other day I saw him help out that Tsumiki girl carry some papers."

"Yeah! I saw him hanging out with Sakura and Asahina! And even weirder, they were all laughing!"

"I actually talked to him the other day! It was just about passing some papers but he was so nice!"

"Maybe we should give him a chance…"

"Yeah, let's do that. I bet Ruruka was just lying again…"

The sound of a trashcan being knocked over startled the students out of their conversation and as one all four of them turn to see the narrowed eyes of Ruruka Andoh. Her foot was resting on top of the fallen trashcan as she eyed the freshmen with distaste.

"Oops, accident. What were you guys talking about again?" she took a menacing step toward the closest freshmen among the group, girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes who was looking at anywhere but at her. "Did I hear one of you say something about me being a liar? Well, speak up!"

The other three girls behind the blonde jumped at the tone and gulped. Thankfully, that's when the bell rang and they hastily took the chance to escape. Ruruka flared her nostrils at the retreating figures and bit her finger.

This couldn't be happening. How could her plan have backfired so fast? It must have been that Naegi bitch's fault! It seems those rumors of her dating that dweeb had actually been true, and now thanks to her, that dweeb Komaeda had more allies in the school!

Just a few days ago, Ruruka had "accidentally" tripped and landed on Komaeda's chest during the lunch period. She'd made sure there were plenty of witnesses. She faked a scream and backed away immediately. Everyone had turned at the sound and Ruruka made sure to cling to her boyfriend in fear.

Komaeda had looked surprised and a little hurt when out of nowhere; Asahina and Sakura blocked his view of her and told her to stop spouting lies. That new guy, Hinata Hajime, had the audacity to say that she had staged the whole thing. Naegi had laced her fingers with Komaeda and looked at Ruruka with such disappointment that it made her grit her teeth in irritation.

And to make matters worse, other students suddenly spoke up and said that they'd seen her trip on him on purpose. Most surprising of all was when Kuzuryu had gotten up from his seat.

"Enough with the bullshit Ruruka. You did that on purpose; I guess what you said about Komaeda was a lie after all."

Ruruka had been so shocked she'd turned speechless. It was the whispers of the other students that snapped her back to reality.

"So she just made up that rumor about her being assaulted? How sick."

"She has lied before…"

"What kind of person makes up those kind of rumors? Disgusting."

All around, she was met with eyes full of disgust. Students were whispering about her, some were even laughing at her. But the worst thing of all was that look of pity that Naegi gave her. The girl made as if to comfort her and Ruruka had enough. She turned on her heel and left the cafeteria, her boyfriend and Saionji hot on her heels.

It'd been a few days since then and Ruruka had been hearing only good things about Komaeda. She'd seen people go up to him and actually talk to him! People didn't even bother talking to her anymore either. The voice her boyfriend, Sohnosuke Izayoi, interrupted her thoughts.

"Maybe you should just leave them alone," he suggested.

Saionji stepped on his foot and he yelped in pain, Ruruka gave a nod of gratitude to her blonde haired friend before she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at her boyfriend who was currently cradling his injured foot.

"No. We're going to get them back for this. They made a fool of me yet again." Ruruka looked outside the window where she could see Naegi and Komaeda heading home. Hinata Hajime, along with Sakura and Asahina joined them a few seconds after and they all burst into laughter because of something Hinata had said. Ruruka's lips curled, "They won't see it coming. They'll regret messing with me."

* * *

By most people's standards, Komaeda was a pretty weird guy. There was the whole thing with his messy, off-white shoulder length hair and his too pale skin, but there were other things too. Like his dislike for most sweet things, with the exception of the cookies that Naegi gave him, and how he said his thoughts aloud most of the time. He had a secret fear of mannequins, they looked too life-like, and his surprisingly good luck. Small things though, like one time he wanted something from the vending machine and instead of one can, he got about twenty of them. Or that other time when Naegi and he were in the library, Naegi had climbed the ladder to get a book at the top when she missed a step and fallen. Komaeda had tripped getting out of his seat and rolled right in front of the ladder in time to catch her in his arms.

He was even more startled when clapping hands sounded and he turned to see his friends grinning at him.

"Nice save dude!" Hinata had said.

"That was so cool!" Asahina had chimed in.

Sakura gave him an approving nod. "Nicely done Komaeda."

Naegi had wrapped her arms around his neck and given him a kiss on the cheek. See? Lucky.

Lately, people have been coming up to him and actually talking to him. _Him!_ Ever since that incident in the cafeteria where even Kuzuryu had stood up for him, all sorts of people had started talking to him. He couldn't help but feel cautious but it gradually died down and he was able to smile back at them. Small smiles, but a smile nonetheless.

Kuzuryu and Owada had actually invited him to go to the arcade with them. After a bit of nudging from Naegi, he had agreed.

It had been fun. Like _really_ fun. Kuzuryu and Owada had apologized for their behavior and Komaeda had forgiven them. Other people invited him to hang out with them, but no matter who invited him and how much fun he had with them, he liked spending time with Naegi the most. He always made time to hang out with her and to walk her home. That Saturday, Komaeda had finally gotten the courage to invite her to his house.

To study of course.

And if there were a few kisses exchanged, well he was pretty okay with that too.

Naegi had agreed to come over on Sunday, so Komaeda had woken up earlier than usual and spent most of the morning cleaning the house. He was so busy cleaning, that he completely forgot to clean his room.

Noticing that he still had about twenty minutes before Naegi was due, he rushed upstairs and started cleaning.

The things with cleaning though, was that he always found something that he thought he'd lost and reminisce.

The sound of the doorbell startled him out of his memories. He'd completely lost track of time. Quickly glancing around, he got most of the blankets from the floor and threw them in the closet. He made his way downstairs to answer the door when he noticed he still had the broom on his hand. Grumbling, he stumbled upstairs and threw the broom in the closet as well.

He made it downstairs, and after fixing his hair, he took a deep breath and opened the door.

* * *

Naegi had seen his house before, but back then she hadn't known it was his house. Sometimes she'd pass by it when she went on a particularly long walk with Haruki. She'd always thought the houses here were extraordinary and big. Like really big, huge even.

And looking at his house now, Naegi wondered if perhaps she should have dressed a little better. This was the kind of neighborhood where rich people lived; she immediately regretted the navy blue tank top and shorts with tights underneath. A passing car made her jump a little, and she almost dropped the cookies she'd baked for Komaeda in the process. Yes, she'd baked him cookies. It'd be rude to come to someone's house and not bring anything right? Right.

Her finger pressed the doorbell and as she waited, Naegi attempted to fix her hair. The weather had turned hotter lately, so Naegi had gone to the salon that morning and had the hairstylist there cut her hair. It was shorter now, around her shoulders. The hairstylist had decided to curl the tips of her hair and given her side bangs. Naegi didn't use to have bangs before; she was surprised at how good it actually looked on her.

As she was fidgeting with her bangs, the door finally opened and she got her first look at her boyfriend. He was handsome; his light grey-green eyes seemed to sparkle as they focused on her. He smiled as he spoke to her and tugged one of her curled strands in his fingers.

"New haircut? And here I thought you couldn't look anymore beautiful."

Naegi flushed and not knowing what to do, thrust the plastic-wrapped plate onto his chest. Komaeda took the plate and stepped away from the door and let her enter.

"I thought it'd be rude to come empty handed, so I brought cookies. I hope that's okay?" she asked timidly.

Komaeda smiled and raised an eyebrow, "Macadamia?"

She nodded.

Komaeda took the plastic off and brought a cookie to his mouth. "These are seriously the best."

Naegi beamed and instantly relaxed. "It took me a while to make them, I've made them before but I guess I forgot again."

Komaeda looked at her in surprise. "You made these?"

Naegi nodded.

Komaeda's face turned red before he turned and coughed to get rid of the sudden silence. "Well, I'll show you to my room. I do need help with that history homework after all."

He quickly showed her the living room, three couches and one huge TV, the dining room, spotless, the kitchen; it had a kitchen island with a stainless steel top, and finally his room.

His room was white with empty walls. Komaeda took a seat on the edge of his bed as Naegi walked around, inspecting his bookshelves and the _Great Teacher Onizuka_ manga volumes that she'd lent him scattered on his coffee table.

Naegi smiled and moved around to his desk. She could feel his gaze on her and tried not to shiver. She liked it when he looked at her; he looked at her the way all women wanted to be looked like by a man. It made her toes curl in pleasure.

He had some of his homework already laid out on his desk; she turned and saw he had three beanbag chairs in the corner and laughed.

"Bean bag chairs?" she asked him.

Komaeda shrugged and leaned his hands back. "They're comfortable."

Naegi put her back to one of them, spread her arms out and let herself fall back. She let out a little sound that sounded very much like a purr and closed her eyes. "You're right. They _are_ comfortable."

She felt pressure on her lips and opened her eyes to meet Komaeda's grey-green eyes hovering above her. Naegi opened her mouth and allowed his tongue to swirl with hers. Komaeda let out a little moan that she immediately wanted to hear again and bit his lip lightly.

Komaeda let out a groan before he pulled her to his lap to deepen the kiss. Naegi had honestly come in to help him study, but hey, this wasn't bad either. Kissing Komaeda had become one of her favorite things to do lately. It was the most delicious, most passionate things she'd ever experienced. She could kiss him all day, everyday and somehow it wouldn't be enough.

Naegi ran her fingers through his hair and leaned further in. She must have leaned too much though, because a second later both of them toppled to the floor with her on top and him cradling her in his arms.

Naegi blinked in surprise and looked down at him. A second later they were laughing.

* * *

"Perhaps we should actually study this time?" Komaeda said as he helped her to her feet.

Naegi took the offered hand and gave him another peck on the lips before she dragged one of the beanbags to the coffee table. "Okay, bring your stuff over here and I'll see where I can help."

As Naegi worked through some of the math problems, they'd finished the history homework earlier; Komaeda studied her features while the music playing in the background changed to another track. Naegi had put some music on her phone while they worked.

"Who's this?" he asked as he played with a brown curled strand of her hair. It was soft under his fingertips.

"Oasis."

"I've never heard of them." He brought the strand to his mouth and placed a kiss on it. Naegi's face turned red but she continued working through the problems.

"I have a few of their songs. This one is my favorite though."

"What's the name of the song?"

"I'm Outta Time."

Komaeda hummed and put his hand on top of her head.

Naegi giggled. "What are you doing?"

"Petting your head. You remind me of a cat sometimes, I always feel the urge to pet you." He confessed as his fingers combed through her hair. Definitely soft; it gave off this floral, musky, perfume-y smell that Komaeda loved.

Naegi took his hand in hers and playfully flopped it around as she finished the last problem on the paper. Komaeda's thumb briefly skimmed the underside of her hand as Naegi got up and stretched.

Her shirt lifted and Komaeda got a clear look of her pale stomach. He swallowed and tugged her shirt down. Naegi gave him a little smirk and Komaeda groaned and used his hand to cover Naegi's face.

"You need to not look at me like that," he said.

Naegi tilted her head. "Why?"

"It's…dangerous."

Naegi nodded seriously and made a face so ridiculous that it made Komaeda laugh. "Got it. From now on, I'll only look at you like this."

Komaeda laughed again put his arms around her waist before he buried his face in her neck.

"You know what I mean." He mumbled.

Naegi ran her fingers over his hair. "Yeah I know," she hesitated, "Do you know not want to though?" she asked quietly.

Komaeda pulled back and looked at her. She was biting her lip and looking to the side, she looked nervous. Komaeda turned her face his way and kissed her for a long time before he finally pulled back. They were both breathing hard.

"Of course I want to. I can't _wait_ to do this with you, but only when we're both ready. I wouldn't want to push you into something like this too fast," He added quietly, "It'll be my first time, so I'd want to be prepared."

Naegi brought her forehead to his and closed her eyes. "It'll be my first time too. I know how you feel."

He touched his nose to hers and closed his eyes.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Repeating a mantra in my head," he whispered back. "Naegi is the best. You will control yourself around her till you're both ready. You will treat her like a queen."

"You say this to yourself?" Naegi asked, holding in her laughter.

"Oh yes. I need to remind myself constantly."

Naegi hummed and closed her eyes. "Komaeda is the sweetest. You will refrain from making those kinds of faces near him. You will do your best not to jump his bones in his own home. Amen."

Komaeda let out a surprised bark of laughter at that.

* * *

An hour later at around four thirty, the doorbell rang. Confused, Komaeda made his way downstairs with Naegi tagging behind him.

Hinata's beaming face greeted them as he raised three bags of groceries, "It's Taco Tuesday!" he declared.

"But it's Sunday," Naegi and Komaeda said.

"What's your point?"

Naegi giggled and Komaeda stepped aside to let his friend in.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" a voice said.

A second later, the faces of Asahina, Sakura, and Chiaki popped into view and Komaeda blinked in surprise.

All three of them stepped inside with their own bags of groceries in their hands.

Sakura looked at Komaeda apologetically, "I hope you don't mind us barging in. Hinata found us at the mall and invited us over. Junko wanted to come as well, but she had a photo shoot. We brought some food over in return."

Komaeda smiled and shook his head at her, "It's no problem at all. Make yourselves right at home."

Hinata took off his shoes, then his socks, and finally his jacket and left them on the floor as he made his way to the kitchen. "Cool thanks."

Naegi brought him back by his ear and made him pick up all his stuff.

"Geez, what are you my mom?" Hinata said while rubbing his ear. Naegi flicked his nose and Hinata pulled a strand of her hair in retaliation.

"Children please. Calm yourselves or no dessert for either of you." Sakura said while looking down her nose at them and crossing her arms.

Naegi and Hinata scoffed and pointed at each other.

"He started it!"

"She started it!"

Chiaki and Asahina laughed as Sakura glowered at their friends until they finally shut up. Komaeda chuckled and began to inspect the bags. He leaned in and whispered in Naegi's ear, "I'll sneak you some dessert, don't worry."

Naegi beamed and Sakura frowned. "I heard that. Don't spoil her."

Chiaki turned to Naegi, "By the way, I like your new haircut Naegi. It looks really good."

Naegi ran a hand through her hair, "You think so?"

Everyone else nodded and Naegi smiled.

Hinata rubbed his hands together and smirked. "So, when are we making the tacos? Now? I say now."

Komaeda laughed, "We can grill these out by the pool."

The girls all turned to him with wide eyes. Asahina pushed herself in front of Komaeda ad gripped his shirt. "You have a pool and you're just telling me this?!"

Komaeda lifted his hands, "Sorry?"

"Where?" she demanded.

"Down the hall, take two lefts and you'll see it."

Asahina disappeared a minute later. Komaeda turned to the others and raised an eyebrow.

Sakura shrugged. "Hina loves pools."

"And donuts," Naegi added. "Can't get enough of them."

Hinata started inching his way in the direction Asahina had left. Naegi pulled him by his collar and made him take the bags of groceries with him. He grumbled under his breath, but did as he was told. Chiaki took some of the bags from him and walked with him to the pool.

* * *

Once Komaeda found the matches, he led Naegi and Sakura outside to the pool where the others had already gathered. Asahina had taken off sweater and dived right in; she was currently doing laps around the pool.

Komaeda and Hinata took out the grill ad set it up before Chiaki started piling on the meat on it. Naegi brought out the cups and poured a drink for everyone, Sakura came back with a few plates and started pouring chips onto them.

Hinata came back from the living room with a huge white husky with blue eyes and Naegi squealed.

"Is this Lucky? He's so big!" she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The dog licked her face and she laughed.

"Yup, that's Lucky. Looks like he just came back from his walk." Komaeda said as he crouched down and patted the dogs' head. "Where's Haruki?"

"He was feeling lazy, so I left him at home. We went on a jog earlier in the day and didn't feel like moving around again. I left him plenty of food and water so he'll be fine."

Some time later, Komaeda and Sakura brought out Komaeda's fifty five-inch TV outside and hooked it onto his PS4. Chiaki had brought some video games and everyone wanted to play.

"Oh gosh, Nathan Drake is the best, isn't he?" Naegi said, she was practically drooling at the character in the game. Komaeda frowned and Hinata bumped shoulders with him.

Chiaki nodded in agreement as her eyes took in the character. They had decided to play _Uncharted 2: Among Thieves_ because according to Naegi and Chiaki it was the best in the series.

They all took turns playing the game, whenever someone would get the character killed, they would switch to let someone else take another turn. Naegi and Hinata actually screamed and cursed whenever they got attacked, Chiaki mumbled to herself and Sakura and Asahina frowned. Komaeda would blink slowly and then try again; he got lucky most of the time though so his character stayed alive a lot.

They made sure to take breaks every now and then and eat some of the hot dogs that they had grilled as well as the tacos that Hinata was devouring. It was weird, having friends like this, at his house, playing games like it was no big deal. Sure, Hinata would come over a lot, but this was the first time he'd ever had this many people over at once.

It was also the first time he'd had this many friends too. Komaeda took in the smiling faces of his new friends and felt contempt. Mostly, though he watched Naegi. She would look at the screen with such intensity, that he felt a shudder go through him. If she'd ever look at him like that, he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to stop himself from jumping her bones.

She would laugh maniacally when she started shooting the people in the game and Komaeda found it adorable. Hinata would join her and then he'd just laugh.

"All right, I'm falling asleep," Asahina said, stretching her arms above her head. "Thanks for letting us hang out here today Komaeda. The pool was seriously awesome!"

"Yeah, anytime," Komaeda said.

"I'll hold you to that," she said with a smile.

Sakura walked up them, "Careful. She might just slip in at night and use your pool."

Asahina stuck out her tongue as everyone laughed. Hinata reached his fist to meet Komaeda's and stretched as well. "It was fun dude. Sure you don't need us to help you put the other stuff back inside? We don't mind."

Komaeda shook his head." It's fine. At least the TV and the PS4 was put back, everything else can wait till tomorrow."

Chiaki hugged him. "Thank you for having us over, we'll see you tomorrow."

Komaeda turned to Naegi; "I'll walk you home."

Naegi beamed and laced her fingers with his. As everyone headed out the front door, Naegi petted Lucky's head one last time before they all left.

Everyone split up in groups of two and headed in the direction of their own homes until it was just Komaeda and Naegi. They mostly talked about music and decorating Komaeda's room.

Naegi decided that he needed to decorate his walls and said that she would give him a few pictures to hang on the wall. Komaeda laughed and agreed and a few minutes later they were standing in front of Naegi's house.

"I'll see you tomorrow Naegi," Komaeda said as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

Naegi waved goodbye and after making sure she was safely inside, he made his way back to his house.

He walked to his room and fell back onto the bed; letting his feet dangle off to the side. It was suddenly quiet again and Komaeda put on some CD that Naegi had lent him to make it less quiet. As he listened to the music, his eyes began to close and he replayed the entire day in his head one more time before drifting off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering."**

― _Nicole Krauss_ _,_ _The History Of Love_

Chapter 8

Naegi was avoiding him. At first he didn't think much of it, but now, two weeks later, Komaeda was starting to wonder if he'd done something wrong. Had she tired of him? Was that why she was suddenly avoiding him? Maybe he'd said something to upset her? Komaeda shook his head. If that were true, then there wouldn't be a reason for her to avoid their friends either. Something was up.

"Something's up," Hinata echoes his thoughts and narrowed his eyes.

Asahina crossed her arms and nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Naegi has been avoiding hanging out with all of us."

"Maybe she's busy?" Chiaki suggested without looking up from her game console. Sakura agreed as well.

Komaeda threw another glance at his phone and shook his head at his friends. Still no reply from Naegi. Everyone deflated. Komaeda hadn't even gotten the opportunity to walk her home these past two weeks either. Hinata and the others had invited her to hang out with them and she'd politely turned them down. All she would say was that she was busy and that she would make it up to them.

Not only that, but lately she just look so tired. According to Asahina and Sakura, Naegi had been falling asleep in class as well. Her grades were still good, and she didn't seem to have any problems with her family either. He'd asked her and she just shook her head. What if she was in trouble and didn't want to make them worry? That definitely sounded like something she would do.

Komaeda shook his head and sighed. He needed to stop overthinking things. Nothing good ever came from jumping to conclusions; he'd just make himself worry even more. What he needed to do was confront her head on and ask her what was wrong.

Hinata crossed his arms over his chest and looked at them in determination. "Okay then I know what we have to do."

Everyone glanced up at him and raised their eyebrow. Chiaki briefly glanced up from her game. "Well, go on tell us."

"We're going to follow her," Hinata declared. "Tomorrow is Friday but we have the day off since it's a holiday. I asked Naegi to come eat Ramen with me but she said she had something to do at noon. So we're going to wake up early and follow her to wherever the heck she's going to go."

Everyone looked at him in astonishment and Hinata puffed his chest. Komaeda bit his lip and wondered if they should do as Hinata said.

Sakura frowned from her seat at the table. "Isn't that a bit much?"

Hinata scoffed and kicked a ball back to some kids who were playing soccer out in the field. Everyone had gathered at the park after school after Naegi had apologized and left in a hurry. "She had plenty of time to explain herself, it's been two weeks already! I'm curious as fuck so I'm going to go!"

Asahina tapped her chin before she spoke up, "I don't mind following her, but won't it be a little hard to follow her on her motorcycle?"

Hinata slapped his forehead. "Damn. I totally forgot about that. Ever since she got that thing she's been riding it pretty much everyday to school. Owada apparently taught her how to drive the thing in just a day. Following her on foot _would_ be hard."

"Leave that to me!" A voice said from behind them. Everyone jumped and turned behind them to see Junko Enoshima with her hands on her hips and a grin spread across her cheeks. "My big sis can drive us anywhere! She has her license after all, following Makoto will be easy peasy!"

Hinata put a hand to his chest. "Jesus, that girl needs a belt. Sneaking up on us and shit. She's going to give me a heart attack one of these days."

The others laughed but silently agreed.

"Well?" Junko tilted her head and looked down at her nails. "Are we doing this or not?"

Everyone turned to Komaeda and after a bit of hesitation he sighed and nodded. Junko beamed and told them to be up around nine to be picked up before she left the park. But not before she popped a little kids balloon and cackling to herself. Thankfully, the kid was too shocked to start crying after his poor balloon.

* * *

The sound of a car honking in front of his house got him moving at ten thirty in the morning. He quickly slipped his shoes on and locked the door before making his way to the red Honda parked in front. Junko waved at him from the passenger seat and Mukuro gave him a nod of greeting at the wheel.

Komaeda opened the door and saw that Asahina and Sakura were already seated inside. They exchanged greetings before Komaeda took a seat between them and put the seatbelt on. As soon as he was done, Mukuro put the car to drive and Junko gave her directions to Hinata and Chiaki's house. Half an hour later, Hinata and Chiaki had joined their little group and were finally on their way to Naegi's house.

Komaeda stared straight ahead. For some reason he felt strangely comfortable with everyone around. He thought he wouldn't since Naegi wasn't around but it looks like he had worried for nothing. He felt a little more secure in this little excursion they were about to head into.

"So," Junko said with a grin as she turned in her seat to look at Komaeda, "have you and Naegi bumped uglies yet?"

Komaeda looked at her in confusion and felt everyone turn their eyes on him. Even Mukuro glanced at him from the rearview mirror before turning her eyes back to the road.

Junko sighed dramatically, "You know, knocking boots? The horizontal hula? Churn the butter?"

Hinata was trying not to laugh while the girls turned red. Komaeda still looked confused and Junko's grin widened even more.

"The hokey pokey? Sink the sausage? Shake the sheets?" Junko wiggled her eyebrows at him, "Play on all fours?"

Asahina choked on her own spit and Hinata started laughing. Sakura looked torn between laughing and reprimanding the fashionista. Chiaki and Mukuro's lips twitched upwards.

At Komaeda's _still_ confused face, Hinata took pity on his friend and slapped him on the back, "She means sex dude. Have you and Naegi had sex yet?"

Junko sent Hinata a disapproving pout as Komaeda's face turned scarlet and he glanced down at his lap. He inwardly groaned, why did Junko have to tease him like that? Now he was feeling embarrassed.

"No, we have not," he muttered still gazing at his lap.

"What?" Junko burst out and looked at him with wide eyes. "You mean you actually kept yourself in check even with a beauty like Naegi in front of you? If it were me, I would have gone crazy and taken her the first day!"

Komaeda huffed and narrowed his eyes, "We're waiting till we're ready," he said flatly. He could tell by how warm his face felt that he was probably blushing.

Ever since his parents had died a few years ago, Komaeda had been alone. If he were honest with himself, he'd admit that he had been alone even before his parents were still alive. People always thought he was weird, he'd been isolated and shunned and after a while he had stopped caring about it. But Naegi had been the first person that he had _truly_ liked from the bottom of his heart (besides Hinata). She wasn't like other people who either wanted money from him or pretended to care about him.

Naegi honestly cared about him. It was one of the reasons he'd fallen head over heels for her. She was his best friend and he wanted to do right by her. He didn't want to push her into sex too fast. They could be together and never have sex as long as she was still by his side and he wouldn't mind one bit.

"Komaeda? Hey, are you listening?"

Komaeda blinked to find Hinata waving a hand in front of his face. "We're here dude, Mukuro made sure to park a few blocks away so Naegi won't notice," he remarked and gestured outside.

Sakura's worried face blocked his view as she looked at him. "Are you all right? If it's about what Junko said you can just ignore it."

Komaeda shook his head and allowed a small smile to show. "I'm all right. Just a little nervous about this."

Hinata turned and pointed out the window. "Hey look! There she is!"

As one, all seven of them turned to see Naegi coming out of her house and making her way to her blue Suzuki GSX-R125 parked at the front. Komaeda took in the sight of her; it felt like he hadn't seen her in so long but he knew that was a lie. He'd seen her just yesterday but only during lunch.

She was wearing her blue skinny jeans with a red plated shirt under her black leather jacket. Naegi seated herself on her bike, put her helmet on and revved the engine with her laced black boots. A second later she was speeding away, Mukuro waited a few seconds before following after her.

"I wonder where she's going?" Hinata said ten minutes later.

"It looks like she'd heading downtown," Asahina frowned and looked around the windows in worry, "But we've definitely passed the nice areas of the cities."

Back in the passenger seat Junko was looking around in wonder. "So our little Naegi likes to hang with the tough crowd huh. Who would have thought?"

Komaeda clenched his fists in his lap. What was Naegi doing here? This place was no place for someone as kind as her to be in.

Chiaki glanced up from her game and pointed out the window. "Oh look, she's pulling over!"

Mukuro stopped a block away and turned the engine off as they waited to see where Naegi would go. A block away Naegi took of her helmet and placed it on her bike before making her way to what appeared to be a liquor store.

Asahina bit her lip. "Should we follow her?"

Sakura shook her head and leaned forward, her eyes on the store that their friend had just walked in a few minutes ago. After what seemed like an eternity, Naegi came out with a water bottle and leaned back on her back to take a swig from it.

A woman suddenly screamed.

"Somebody help! Stop that man, he took my purse!"

A second later a man came running at full speed with a purse clutched in his arms. As the man neared Naegi, everyone in the car tensed. Komaeda and Sakura were about ready to head on over when Naegi's hand caught the man's wrist and promptly flipped him over. The man went down on the floor with a grunt and Naegi snatched the purse away.

A second later a young woman ran over and sighed in relief as Naegi handed her the purse back. After thanking her several times, the woman threw an angry look at the man now clutching his head and left.

As the man began to sit, Naegi crouched down to his level and started talking to him. Everyone in the car tensed. Junko brought out her Taser shaped like a cats paw, Mukuro and Sakura cracked their knuckles and the rest took a hold of baseballs bats that Mukuro had in the back. If that man tried anything, they'd be there in a jiffy. Surveillance be damned.

The purse-snatcher suddenly started crying and Naegi patted his shoulder in sympathy.

Everyone blinked.

They didn't know what to expect, but they certainly hadn't expected this.

As they watched, the man got to his feet and bowed a few more times before a smile bloomed on his face and he left with a skip to his step. He turned back once more and waved goodbye at Naegi and she offered him a wave and big smile before the man disappeared around the corner.

Naegi watched after him before she finished her water, threw it in the recycling bin and moved to her bike. A second later, she was driving away again.

Everyone could only stare in shock as Naegi's form started to disappear from view. Junko snapped out of her thoughts first and quickly yelled at her sister to get moving. Mukuro jumped in her seat and fumbled with her keys before she quickly inserted the right one and followed after their friend. Thankfully, Naegi hadn't gotten very far; everyone released a sigh of relief.

"Ok," Hinata said once they were back on track, "the hell was that?"

Sakura shook her head in wonder; even Chiaki had abandoned her game in favor of the conversation.

Komaeda looked after Naegi's form in the distance. "Did she just reform that purse snatcher?"

Asahina looked at him with wide eyes. "I think she did," she whispered, "I don't know what she said to him but the guy definitely looked better after they talked."

Mukuro whistled and looked at her friends back. "Naegi is awesome," She said in awe.

Everyone could only agree.

* * *

After that Naegi stopped two more times before she finally made it to her destination. On the way there, she had helped get a cat down a tree and helped an elderly woman take in her groceries to her house.

"Is she an angel or something?" Hinata had exclaimed.

Junko snorted and crossed her arms. "Probably," she muttered.

Komaeda's mouth twitched upwards. Naegi was pretty awesome. Not only was she able to kick butt but she also had the power to change people.

"Is that a bar?"

Chiaki's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he and the rest turned to see that Naegi had indeed gone inside a bar.

Hinata gulped from his seat. "That place doesn't look safe." He muttered.

"It looks like the kind of place where someone could get killed," Mukuro muttered as she gripped the steering wheel.

Everyone looked at her in shock and Mukuro shrugged and ducked her head. "Well, it does." She mumbled quietly.

"You think she's doing something illegal in there?" Junko said excitedly.

Komaeda shook his head and ignored the pout she gave him. "Naegi doesn't seem like the type to do anything illegal."

Hinata snorted and crossed his legs under him. "Yeah that's true. She's so sweet she gives me cavities. No way she'd do something bad." He paused. "Well, not anything too bad anyway."

"Maybe one of us should go inside?" Asahina suggested.

After a bit of debating, Sakura opened the door and made her way to the bar. Two bouncers appeared at the door and blocked her view. They talked for a bit before Sakura made her way to the car.

"Well?" Hinata inquired.

Sakura shook her head. "It's no good. They don't allow anyone under twenty-one inside. When I told them that a friend of mine came in a few minutes before me they just said that she was a special case and told me to leave."

Everyone frowned. Special case? What did that mean? Was Naegi doing something she shouldn't be doing after all? Komaeda shook his head. No. He had to believe in Naegi. If he started doubting her now, he'd regret it later.

Chiaki's quiet voice brought them back to the matter at hand. "So what do we do now?"

"Want to wait? Maybe she won't take long?" Junko suggested.

Everyone glanced at each other before deciding to wait. She shouldn't take too long.

Right?

* * *

Wrong.

Naegi had been inside since noon. It was almost six in the afternoon. The sun was just starting to set and everyone was getting tired.

At the back, Hinata let out a sigh of frustration. "What the hell is she even doing?" he yelled. "She's been in there for _hours!_ I had to pee in my water bottle!"

Everyone looked at him in disgust.

Mukuro turned around in her seat and made a face at him. "You know there's a liquor store around the corner right?"

Hinata blinked and groaned. "Seriously?"

Junko snorted. "Idiot."

Komaeda chuckled at his friend's antics. At least they had entertainment.

"By the way," Hinata remarked, trying to pretend that he hadn't just embarrassed himself, "are we going to wait here till she comes out? I don't know about you guys, but I'm _hungry!"_

Asahina blinked in surprise and looked at the time on her phone. "Crap!" she exclaimed. "We haven't had anything to eat all day!" She fumbled with the car door and once it was opened she made a dash outside, stopped and turned to yell over her shoulder, "I'll bring back some food!"

She darted off, and everyone stared after her in mild interest.

Sakura sighed and eased herself out of her seat, "I better go with her, lest she come back with boxes of donuts like last time."

A second later, she too disappeared and Komaeda closed his eyes and leaned back on his seat.

Hinata moved to where Komaeda was sitting and bumped shoulders with him. Komaeda opened his eyes to see his friend giving him a small smile. "I'm sure Naegi has a good reason for being here. I've known her since we were kids, she's a good kid."

Chiaki lay down on the seat at the back and held her game console above her. "I agree with Hinata. Naegi probably has a good reason for avoiding us. All we can do is believe in her. I'm sure she'll tell us when she's ready."

Komaeda looked a t his two friends and let out a sigh. "I just hope that she hasn't gotten into any trouble."

Junko snorted a t the front where she was playing rock paper scissors with her sister. "I'm sure she's fine."

Mukuro nodded and frowned as Junko beat her paper with her scissors. "She can kick serious butt, Sakura and I have trained her after all."

Chiaki placed a comforting hand on Komaeda's shoulder. "I'm sure she's fine."

Komaeda hoped so.

* * *

True to her word, Asahina returned with food for everyone and just one box of donuts due to Sakura's scolding.

"Oh sweet Jesus! This is food from the gods!" Hinata declared as scarfed down his own burger. He made as if to take Mukuro's own burger, but she slapped his hand so hard he moved to the back with Chiaki and mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'she's scary'. Chiaki padded his shoulder and offered him some of her fries.

Junko laughed and took another sip of her strawberry smoothie that she'd made Mukuro get for her. Komaeda took another bite of his burger before he glanced down at the time on his phone. It was almost nine, what the heck was Naegi still doing in that bar?

As if summoned, Naegi finally emerged from the bar and stretched her arms high. Everyone in the car ducked their heads; Mukuro had already turned off the lights in the car. As they watched, a couple of men came out and talked with Naegi for a bit. They couldn't hear what they were saying but they were all smiling so it couldn't have been that bad. A tall burly man with a thick beard made his way over and stopped in front of Naegi. She immediately straightened as the man looked down his nose at her.

After what seemed like forever, the man gave a wicked grin and slapped Naegi on the back before he lifted her into a crushing hug. Komaeda looked at his friends in confusion. They shrugged; they didn't know what was happening either.

More people came out of the bar and shook hands or hugged Naegi before someone brought out a camera and put it on a stool to take a picture. After that Naegi stepped up to her bike, bowed once to the tall burly man, waved and got on her bike. As she began to drive away, the people at the bar waved goodbye, the tall burly man wiped a tear from his eye before he barked at everyone to get back inside.

Once again, Komaeda and his friends could only look at each other in astonishment.

"Okay, now I'm seriously curious as fuck!" Hinata exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes, "what the hell just happened?"

No one knew.

With nothing to do, everyone decided to go home with more questions than answers.

* * *

Once Komaeda made it home around ten thirty, his phone beeped.

He had a message.

Quickly taking out his phone, Komaeda was surprised to see that it was a message from Naegi.

 _I know I haven't hanged out with you for a while and for that I'm sorry. Want to go out with me tomorrow at the mall? My treat._

Komaeda's eyes widened before he found himself replying.

 _Sure thing! I'll meet you there!_

A second later, his phone beeped once again.

 _It's a date then! I'll see you tomorrow at ten in the morning then! Good night! :)_

Komaeda typed in a good night of his own before he went to bed. Perhaps tomorrow, he'd finally get some answers.

As Komaeda began to drift to sleep, he replayed the events of the day before he re-read Naegi's messages.

His eyes widened and he suddenly sat up.

Did she say _date_?

* * *

The bustling mall that Naegi had suggested for their date was filled with so many people that it was suffocating. It was another hot day, and the mall was crowded with people trying to get away from the heat.

Komaeda sighed, his arms felt stiff at his side and he was taking slow breaths.

Naegi had said they were going on a date.

Just the two of them.

No one else.

Komaeda's breathing quickened and he tried to breathe through his nose. Now that he thought about it…Naegi and him hadn't gone on a date yet, had they?

He suddenly felt ashamed.

They'd been dating for almost two months now and not once had he asked her out on a date.

 _Not once!_

Maybe that was the reason for Naegi's sudden distance.

Komaeda clenched his fists together as he took a seat by the fountain. The cool breeze seemed to take some of the edge off and he inhaled through his nose.

He'd just have to make it to her in this date then. He'd do his best to make sure Naegi had a good time.

Perhaps he should have dressed better?

Komaeda grimaced as he looked down at his torn skinny jeans and his black _Game of Thrones_ T-shirt under his green hoodie. Komaeda looked at his sleeve and frowned; there were holes on the sleeve. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there was a red stain at the bottom and one of the pockets was torn, making him unable to put his hand inside.

Yeah, he definitely should have dressed better.

Now that he thought about it, Hinata had wanted to take him shopping for new clothes as well. Komaeda remembered saying that he wouldn't mind, but he had probably forgotten about it.

Maybe he should do some shopping now before Naegi came?

A glance at the time told him that he didn't have time.

It was five minutes till ten, Naegi would be arriving soon.

Perhaps he didn't look that bad and Naegi wouldn't notice.

A bunch of giggling girls caught his attention and he turned to them.

Oh.

They were pointing at him and laughing.

Yup. Naegi would definitely notice.

Komaeda let out a long-suffering sigh.

Why couldn't he ever do anything right?

A poke to his cheek pulled Komaeda out of his thoughts and he blinked owlishly at his girlfriend standing in front of him.

"Something on your mind?" the brunette asked lightly as she put her hands behind her back and gave him a smile.

Komaeda managed a lopsided smile and scratched his cheek. "Something like that."

Naegi tilted her head and hummed as she took a step back.

Komaeda took her in fully and felt his throat go dry. Naegi was wearing a knee length dark summer dress with white petals in it combined with peep toe boots. Noticing his stare, Naegi grinned and twirled for him.

Komaeda clapped as Naegi finished her twirl and curtsied in front of him.

Komaeda laughed.

 _God, he missed her._

Naegi scratched her cheek and bowed to him once.

Komaeda startled.

"I'm so sorry for not hanging out with you Komaeda! I'll apologize to Hinata and the others the next time I see them but I wanted to apologize to you first." Naegi stood to her full height; "I had a good reason for it though I promise."

Komaeda frowned and crossed his arms. "Go on."

"The reason I couldn't hang out with you guys was because I was working," At Komaeda's raised eyebrow Naegi continued, "You see, I noticed that we were dating for almost two months now and we didn't celebrate once!"

Komaeda's eyes widened. What she said was true.

Not only had he not taken Naegi out on a date but he hadn't done anything special on their first month anniversary either.

Komaeda hanged his head in shame. "I'm so sorry Naegi. I haven't been a good boyfriend to you at all."

Naegi took him by the chin and kissed him on the cheek. "You've been the best Komaeda. This is the first time either of us have ever dated anyone. Its only natural that we're not perfect at this." She giggled, "I think we're doing okay so far though."

Komaeda gave her a small smile.

"So," Naegi continued, "Since we were nearing two months of dating, I wanted to give you something special. It took me a while to raise the money, but I finally got everything I needed yesterday." Naegi handed him a bag and Komaeda's eyes widened. "Happy two month anniversary Komaeda. Open it."

Feeling suddenly giddy, Komaeda opened the bag and took out Naegi's present for him and felt his eyes widen in awe. In his hand was a knee-length dark green zipper hoodie with a jagged-cut tail. The hoodie had red squares across the right shoulder, and a large red '55' on the back. Komaeda felt tears prickling his eyes but he blinked them away.

He opened his mouth to say something, probably thank you, but no words came. What Naegi had given him…there were no words. No one had ever given him a present before, not since his parents passing anyway.

Komaeda pulled Naegi into a tight hug and kissed her.

Naegi laughed and pulled back to look at his face. "I'm guessing you like it?"

Komaeda could only nod his head furiously.

Naegi laughed again, "Well go on. Try it on."

Komaeda took off his ripped hoodie and traded it for Naegi's present for him. It fit him like a glove; it was like this hoodie was made just for him.

Naegi made a twirling motion with her finger and Komaeda obeyed before he turned in a slow circle so Naegi could see.

"Perfect! It looks really good on you!"

Komaeda moved to a store where he could see his reflection and admired the hoodie. It really _did_ look good on him.

He frowned and turned back to Naegi who had followed him.

"I didn't get you a present though. I feel bad."

Naegi waved away his concern. "Don't worry about it if you really want to make it up to me though, you could take me out on this date."

Komaeda kneeled on one leg and took her hand in his. "It would be my honor, my lady."

Naegi giggled and helped him to his feet before she took his hand and let herself be led to wherever Komaeda wanted to take her to.

* * *

Komaeda had never been on a date before but he did the best he could.

Komaeda took them to a small café that Naegi seemed to greatly enjoy. If one ordered coffee there, the workers there would draw something of their choosing in your drink.

Naegi beamed and wanted Nathan Drake from the _Uncharted_ series to be drawn on her coffee. At Komaeda's pout, Naegi had told him that she still thought he was the best but she was currently obsessed with the character.

Komaeda let it go and ordered Mob from the anime _Mob Psycho 100_ on his own coffee. Upon seeing it, Naegi had squealed and taken pictures of both their cups before she asked the waiter to take a picture of the both of them.

Komaeda tried to smile but he was pretty sure it was a grimace. The sound of Naegi's laughter soon turned that grimace into a real smile and the waiter quickly snapped the picture.

As the couple strolled through the mall, Komaeda took a bite of his pretzel and turned to his girlfriend, "So I get that you had to get a job but why a bar?" Komaeda quickly closed his mouth but it was too late.

Naegi gave him a knowing smile as she gave another lick to her mint chocolate ice cream before she answered, "Oh yeah. I know you and the rest were following me around. Kind of hard not to notice a red Honda everyone you go." Komaeda winced as she continued, "And I chose the bar because my parents have friends there. After I told my dad that I wanted to make money, he called his friend at the bar and said I could start immediately."

Komaeda's eyes widened in understanding.

"I didn't want to let you know because I wanted to surprise you. And I couldn't tell our friends either, no offence but they can't hide a secret if their life depended on it. They would have spilled so I thought it better to not say anything."

Komaeda nodded as he finished off his pretzel. "That explains everything, it's a good thing I had faith in you."

Naegi beamed and finished off her ice cream. Noticing that she had some ice cream on her cheek Komaeda swept in and licked it away. Naegi turned red and Komaeda realized what he had done before he felt his cheeks redden as well.

Komaeda coughed into his hands, "Shall we go eat?"

Naegi cleared her throat and laced her fingers with his, "Well if you insist," she said with a smirk.

Komaeda grinned and turned them in a different direction.

* * *

Komaeda ate until he could barely move, everything was so good.

They talked as they as they dined, Naegi telling him stories of the things she had to do while working at the bar. She had learned how to make all kinds of drinks and become friends with practically everyone who went there.

She made it a point to strike up a conversation with everyone. At first they were cautious but they got used to her, and soon enough it was like they were all friends for a very long time.

Komaeda could see it all clearly in his head. Naegi would try to strike up a conversation and someone would say something snarky to her but she wouldn't be deterred. She'd continue to prod the person until they were friends.

And it seems to have worked, considering what he and his friends had seen last night. As Naegi began to leave, he still remembered the horde of people who had come to bid her goodbye. Even the scariest of them all had engulfed her in a hug and shed a tear as she left.

Komaeda was glad that other people could see how amazing Naegi was. Perhaps she really was an angel?

As Komaeda looked over the brunette he could easily imagine her with wings and a halo over her head. He chuckled in amusement.

Naegi looked at him in confusion but Komaeda simply said it was nothing.

* * *

As Komaeda walked Naegi home they fell into silence while the sun vanished and stars began to appear among the sky. The moon soon appeared and bathed them with enough light to see the road ahead. They watched the stars quietly, and Komaeda pointed to a few constellations that he knew of. When he was stuck on one, Naegi took over for him and told their stories.

Komaeda dragged his gaze from the stars to find Naegi's face illuminated by the moonlight, the silver of the light making her hair shine. As Naegi pointed to another constellation, Komaeda observed her for a long moment and smiled.

How had he gotten so lucky?


	9. Chapter 9

"Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought."  
― **E.Y. Harburg**

Chapter 9

He had to stop staring.

Like right now.

But he really couldn't.

He tried.

He really really tried.

But Naegi in a swimsuit?

How could he not stare?

Besides.

He was just staring at her for her own safety.

She could trip on the sand or something.

Or an octopus could come and drag her into the ocean.

Okay, no likely but still.

That was his story and he was sticking to it.

Hinata's snickering made Komaeda scowl in annoyance.

His friend obviously didn't believe him.

And Komaeda…couldn't blame him.

As soon as Naegi had stepped out of the dressing room along with the other girls, Komaeda's jaw had dropped.

That black two-piece swimsuit wasn't _fair._

He'd always know Naegi was attractive, but _damn._

Komaeda was so screwed.

How had he gotten into this mess again?

Komaeda leaned back on his spot on the sand, his chin resting on his folded arms as he brought his knees to his chest and thought back to a few days ago.

After Komaeda and Naegi's best date ever, Naegi had apologized and explained why she'd been avoided them to their friends the next day. They'd all showed up at Naegi's doorstep that following morning in case she wanted to avoid them again. As soon as she finished explaining, everyone instantly understood and forgave her.

Everyone except for Hinata.

He'd just scowled at her, or at least that's what he was trying to do but his scowl looked more like a pout more than anything.

"I had to eat ramen by myself, do you know how lame I looked?"

Naegi winced and everyone else groaned.

 _That's_ why he still mad?

Naegi placed her hands together as if in prayer and gave Hinata an apologetic look. "I promise I'll make it up to you! What do you want? I'll do anything."

Hinata's lips twitched upwards. "Anything?"

Naegi nodded.

"Well," he turned around and grinned, "If you insist so much," everyone rolled his or her eyes, "then I want to go to the beach!"

Everyone blinked.

Asahina let out a squeal of delight and started jumping up and down. Sakura and Chiaki looked at her in amusement.

Junko and Mukuro looked intrigued.

Even Komaeda looked a little excited. He'd never been to the beach with friends before.

Naegi tilted her head. "That's it?"

Hinata's grin turned feral. " _And_ I get to choose your swimsuit."

Naegi opened her mouth to object.

"You said anything."

And promptly shut her mouth with an audible click.

Hinata clapped his hands together and turned to the rest of their friends. "Now that that's settled, everyone will meet at Naegi's house on Saturday to go to the beach! Everyone better be here early, and for the love of all that is good, someone please _please_ bring some breakfast!"

Asahina looked at him in confusion. "Why can't you bring breakfast?"

Hinata snorted. "Silly Hina, as if I'd wake up early enough to get breakfast."

Naegi laughed as Junko smacked him upside the head.

* * *

And that's how everyone ended up at the beach the following week. Everyone had arrived at Naegi's house bright and early around nine in the morning, well everyone except for Hinata who had slept in and was running late.

Junko pressed the doorbell and stepped back while they waited for Naegi to open the door.

After ten seconds of nothing, Junko frowned and pressed the button again.

When that didn't work, Junko started pressing the doorbell repeatedly until Komaeda calmly pushed her aside and inserted the key that Naegi had made for him and stepped inside to let everyone else in.

Junko and Asahina made a beeline to the stairs and headed for Naegi's room. A minute later they heard Naegi whining and cursing at them.

Komaeda and Chiaki chuckled in amusement.

Sakura and Mukuro had made their way to the kitchen and were attempting to make breakfast for the others.

Hinata arrived about five minutes later with a bag in tow. He looked like a mess. His hair looked like he hadn't combed it and Komaeda was pretty sure he was still in his pjs.

Unless he was planning on going to the beach in his batman sweats.

He stifled a yawn as he turned to Komaeda, "Where's Naegi?"

Komaeda and Chiaki pointed upstairs and Hinata rolled his eyes before he stomped his way up to his best friends room.

Junko and Asahina came down the stairs and looked back at Naegi's room in confusion.

A minute later, there was a high pitch scream, a lot of grunting, and a whole lot of cursing before Hinata made his way down the stairs with Naegi thrown over his shoulder.

Naegi was thrashing but Hinata held firm as he made his way down the stairs and tossed her on one of the couches. Komaeda was at her side the next instant and tried to calm her down before she could launch herself at Hinata.

Chiaki tried to calm everyone down to no avail.

Tired of their antics, Junko pulled out an air horn from her purse and pressed the button. Everyone jumped at the sound and Naegi promptly fell off the couch with a yelp. Hinata snickered before Naegi pulled at his ankle and he went down as well.

A wrestling match soon ensued and Junko huffed in annoyance.

A delicious aroma suddenly covered the room and Naegi tossed Hinata off her as she got to her feet. She sniffed the air a few more times before she smiled, "Is that bacon?"

"Bacon?!" Hinata was up in a flash.

Sakura poked her head from the kitchen and confirmed that yes that was indeed bacon. Naegi and Hinata practically ran to the kitchen and grabbed a hand full of bacon and sat themselves at the counter.

The perfect image of innocence.

Asahina put her beach items on one of the couches and went into the kitchen to get some food as well.

Junko made her way to Naegi's room to pick some cute clothes for her friend and Chiaki put her game console away and headed for the kitchen.

Komaeda made his way over as well and started making coffee to everyone's delight. Naegi even kissed his cheek in gratitude and he made sure to give her a little more sugar just the way she liked it.

Mukuro was trying to make eggs but it became pretty clear that she didn't know how.

Asahina gratefully took over for her and Mukuro gave her a thankful smile before she grabbed a plate and piled some bacon that Sakura had made.

The coffee was soon done and Komaeda passed a mug to his friends. Hinata actually moaned as he drank his coffee.

Naegi, still holding her mug, opened her arms, and Komaeda took his cue immediately, wrapping Naegi in his arms and enveloping her in his warmth. Naegi was still in her pjs, which consisted of shorts and a tank top; of course she'd be cold.

Hinata snorted at the sight of them. "Get a room jeez."

"This is very good coffee Komaeda." Chiaki murmured next to Hinata. Junko made her way over just as Asahina finished making eggs for everyone and tossed Naegi some clothes she'd picked out for her.

At the sight of clothes, Hinata perked up and disappeared into the living room only to appear seconds later with a bag, which he tossed at Naegi.

"Your swimsuit. Don't worry I picked something good."

Naegi looked at him dubiously but didn't argue as she snuggled into Komaeda's chest.

An hour later once everyone had finished eating breakfast, Naegi and Hinata got out of their pjs and put something better on. Naegi lent Hinata some of Komaeda's clothes that he'd left at her house and Naegi put on the outfit that Junko had picked out for her. Thankfully, it was just some black shorts and a loose green shirt with some sandals.

Junko had even brought her a hat and some sunglasses, which Naegi took eagerly. Once that was done, all of them clamored inside Mukuro's car, it was a tight fit, and headed to the nearest market to get some more food and drinks for the beach.

* * *

The ride to the beach was long but at least they were in pleasant company so nobody complained. Naegi let his gaze roam over the group around her from her seat and smiled.

Komaeda had dozed off on her shoulder and was lightly snoring. Hinata and Chiaki were sitting at the back playing Pokémon together while Asahina and Sakura were looking over a sports magazine while Asahina sat in Sakura's lap.

Junko was poking her sisters cheek and giving her directions every now and then at the front. Mukuro didn't seem to mind, she must be used to this kind of behavior already.

"Wait, where did you find that Pokémon? I've been looking everywhere for him!" Hinata yelled as he looked at Chiaki's game console.

Chiaki giggled at his outburst, "Want me to show you?"

"Hell yeah!" he shouted.

Komaeda groaned, and squeezed his eyes shut. "You're too loud Hinata." He mumbled before he snuggled closer to Naegi who looked at him fondly.

"You want to play?" Hinata asked. "Chiaki has an extra console, in fact I'm pretty sure she has at least ten in her bag."

Komaeda straightened and rubbed his eyes. "What are we playing?"

"Pokémon." Hinata and Chiaki said at the same time.

Komaeda turned around in his seat and peered over at them. "Never played it, what's it about?"

Hinata let out a gasp, even Chiaki looked startled.

"You've never played Pokémon?" Hinata said in a strangled voice.

Komaeda looked embarrassed and shook his head.

"Dude! You have to play! Heck I'll start a new game with you, just so I can show you!"

Komaeda took the game console that Chiaki handed him like he was seeing it for the first time. He looked a little nervous, but his eyes gleamed with excitement as Hinata and Chiaki began to explain the game to him.

"I'll play as well," Naegi said cheerfully as she moved to her boyfriend's side. "Then you'll help me beat up Hinata's Pokémon in return!"

"Hey!" Hinata scowled.

* * *

As soon as Mukuro had parked the car, Asahina practically shoved the door open and all but sprinted to the ocean. Sakura chased after her with her hands carrying her friend's beach items.

The others calmly started walking after the two like they had all the time in the world. The fresh, salty breeze was blowing into their faces and Komaeda took it all in wonder. He hadn't been to the beach in a very long time; he'd forgotten how crowded it could get.

All of them had worn sandals, but the sand still dug into their feet. A crowd of people varying in age were scattered around the beach, some of the were carrying towels, others umbrellas, the kids were either playing in the water or making sandcastles. As Komaeda's gaze drifter farther, the bright sparkling ocean lay before them.

Asahina hadn't even bothered taking off her jeans; she'd just dived right in. Sakura was at the shore shouting at her to at least change into her swimsuit and to put some sunscreen.

After what felt like a long time but was probably just a few minutes, Junko stopped the group and declared that this was the spot. As soon as she said the words Hinata dropped his items on the sand with a groan.

Mukuro took out the two giant umbrellas that they had brought and placed them on the sand. Junko then brought out the fancy rugs she had bought and placed them under the umbrella. Hinata and Komaeda hauled the cooler to the side and took out the folding chairs and placed them around the umbrellas to stay in the shade.

Naegi and Chiaki placed the picnic baskets on top of the rugs and Hinata immediately took out a sandwich and a soda from the cooler and sat down on the floor where he leaned back on his hands and started eating.

As the others made themselves comfortable on the folded chairs, Sakura and Asahina came back. The latter was pouting and dripping water but at the sight of food she perked up.

As soon as she finished her sandwich, she started tugging the girls to the dressing rooms so they could put on their swimsuits. Left to their own devices, Hinata and Komaeda simply took off their shirts and waited for them to come back, they were already wearing their swim trunks.

Hinata turned to Komaeda and grinned, "You're going to absolutely _love_ the swimsuit I picket out for Naegi. I have pretty good taste if I say so myself."

Komaeda shook his head in amusement, "Just tell me it's not something too scandalous."

Hinata just grinned and Komaeda inwardly groaned. Maybe he should have a sweater ready for Naegi. As soon as he finished the thought, Hinata was tapping his shoulder in excitement. "Dude, they're here!"

Komaeda took a deep breath and turned around.

Only for his jaw to drop in shock.

 _Holy._

Hinata snickered beside him and slapped his shoulder. "I did good right?"

Komaeda opened his mouth to say something but only a small whimper came out.

He promptly closed his mouth and just stared.

Hinata continued talking, he sounded very proud of himself, "The lady at the store said it's a Maillot de bain Beach Brazilian Bikini Set. Since Naegi is a little pale, I thought black would look good on her, and boy was I right."

Komaeda had to admit, the swimsuit looked really good on Naegi. It made her pale skin stand out; she had a small Monokuma bow on her hair, probably from Junko and she kept crossing her arms across her chest.

Junko hooked her hand through Naegi's and dragged her over. "Doesn't she look sexy as hell? Hinata did good."

Hinata stood a little taller at the praise.

Naegi kept looking at him and biting her lip.

She really needed to stop giving him that look or else he didn't know what he'd do.

"Does it look weird?" she asked shyly.

Komaeda couldn't hold himself back anymore and enveloped her in a hug and kissed her hard. "Not at all, you look beautiful."

Naegi blushed in his arms but smiled at him.

Hinata and Junko made gagging noises behind them but they didn't care.

"Hina, you need to put sunscreen," Sakura said sternly, "Remember what happened last time? You looked like a baked potato."

"That was one time-"

"It happened three times," Sakura said as she handed her friend the bottle of sunscreen," No going to the ocean until you're covered in the lotion."

Asahina pouted but allowed Chiaki and Sakura to put sunscreen on her.

Asahina was wearing a blue two-piece swimsuit, Sakura was wearing a black sports bra and black shorts, Chiaki had put a sweater on but she had changed to shorts at east.

Mukuro had put on a black and white swimsuit but had put on some blue shorts, she kept looking at the sweater clutched in Junko's arms with such longing Komaeda almost felt sorry for her.

As for Junko herself, her swimsuit looked more like strings than a swimsuit. Komaeda had the overwhelming urge to cover his eyes when he looked at her. She was just showing _too_ much in his opinion, but she looked perfectly content so he kept his mouth shut.

As everyone made their way into the ocean, Naegi looked back to see Komaeda lingering by the shore. He looked uncertain.

Naegi got out of the water and placed a hand on his shoulder, her voice turned gentle. "Let me guess, you can't swim?"

Komaeda stiffened.

"Come on, I'll teach you."

Komaeda hesitated and took her hand in his and let out a loose breath as Naegi maneuvered them into the ocean.

After about fifteen minutes later, Komaeda had mastered the art of floating in the water like a pro. When it came to swimming though…

"You look like a cat flailing in the water."

"Yes, thank you very much for your output Junko." Naegi gritted out.

"You've almost got it dude," Hinata said, "Just…don't panic too much."

"I'm trying!" Komaeda spluttered.

"Just swim like a dolphin!" Asahina piped in as she swam circles around them.

Everyone looked at her strangely but she just shrugged.

Naegi watched as Chiaki and Mukuro held Komaeda's hands as he tried to swim only for him to freak out and start flailing his arms once they let go.

She bit her lip before an idea hit her and she swam to his side before she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.

Komaeda instantly relaxed and returned the kiss as Naegi made them swim backwards.

Junko made a barfing sound behind them for all the mushiness but Hinata flipped her off in Komaeda's stead.

As Komaeda and Naegi parted, Komaeda looked down at himself in a daze and Naegi swam a little farther away only to beam as Komaeda swam after her without flailing once.

Hinata gave Naegi a fist bump and cheered, "You did it!"

Naegi swam a little farther away and Komaeda followed after her with a breaststroke. The others clapped in admiration and Komaeda hid his blush in Naegi's neck and mumbled something about embarrassing him in public.

Everyone just laughed.

* * *

The sun was just starting to set when Hinata came to sit next to her under the umbrellas. For a while they didn't say anything, just stared at their friends who were playing volleyball.

Right now it was a tie.

Sakura was really really good at volleyball. She hit the ball with such ferocity that Chiaki actually squeaked in fear and dove to the side to avoid getting hit in the face. Junko reprimanded her for avoiding the ball but she didn't look too mad.

Komaeda had been a little confused on the rules but he caught on pretty quickly. He was smiling so he must be having fun.

Mukuro was surprisingly good as well, she was giving Asahina some trouble but Naegi suspected she was just excited to get an actual challenge.

All of them were sweating and panting so Naegi put on her shorts and followed after Hinata to a vending machine; Hinata had finished the last soda they had.

Both of them looked around in surprise at the gathering crowd and after looking at each other, shrugged and followed after the crowd.

Turns out there were going to be a concert going on at the pier, judging by the music equipment on the stage. Hinata and Naegi pushed themselves to the middle of the crowd and waited for the show to start.

As soon as a man stepped onto the stage, the crowd started screaming and shouting. The man on stage ran a hand through his curly black hair and smiled as he waved at the crowd, which only caused the crowd to scream even louder.

Naegi looked at Hinata and frowned, "Do you know who that is?"

Hinata shrugged, "Dunno. They must be good judging by the crowds reactions."

Both of them turned their attention back to the stage when the man began speaking into the microphone, "Hey guys! I'm so glad we have such a good crowd today!"

The crowd screamed a little more as the man chuckled.

"Unfortunately, our lead singer and guitarist are running a little late but we do need to start soon. Do any of you know how to play the guitar or sing?"

The crowd started murmuring.

Naegi looked at the crowd before she turned back to the man on stage and raised her hand along with Hinata's who spluttered at her.

"I can sing and my friend here knows how to play the guitar!" she shouted to Hinata's dismay.

The man looked them over and shrugged before he started beckoning them to the stage. The crowd parted for them and Naegi started dragging an unwilling Hinata with her.

"What are you doing? I've never played in front of a huge crowd before!" Hinata hissed in her ear.

Naegi didn't stop her stride as she dragged him to the stage, "We're bonding," she said easily, "I promised I'd make it up for ditching you and this will definitely help."

Hinata tried to come up with a response to that but only managed to stutter.

Naegi took the guitar from the man and shoved it in Hinata's chest, "You'll do fine. And besides, I'll be right here with you! It'll be just like old times when we played in your garage only with an audience."

Hinata hesitated before he let out a sigh to calm himself and relaxed his stance. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes and he grinned back at her. "Let's do this!"

Naegi beamed.

The man came up to them both and showed them the first song and both of them released a sigh of relief.

They knew this song.

"Let's start things off with a song everyone is familiar with!" the man shouted into the microphone before he made his way over to the keyboard. Another man sat himself behind the drums and gave them a smile.

As the music began in the background, Naegi glanced at Hinata and gave him a thumps up before she began to sing.

 _Color me your color, baby  
Color me your car  
Color me your color, darling  
I know who you are  
Come up off your color chart  
I know where you're comin' from_

 _Call me (call me) on the line  
Call me, call me any, anytime  
Call me (call me) my love  
You can call me any day or night  
Call me_

Hinata grew more confident as he began to move towards Naegi.

 _Cover me with kisses, baby  
Cover me with love  
Roll me in designer sheets  
I'll never get enough  
Emotions come, I don't know why  
Cover up love's alibi_

 _Call me (call me) on the line  
Call me, call me any, anytime  
Call me (call me) oh love  
When you're ready we can share the wine  
Call me_

As Hinata played the guitar, Naegi began to sway her hips, which only caused the crowd to scream in excitement.

 _Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, he speaks the languages of love  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, amore, chiamami, chiamami  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, appelle-moi mon cherie, appelle-moi  
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any way  
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any day-ay_

Naegi put both hands on her hair and swayed as Hinata moved his feet to the rhythm. Naegi smiled and Hinata grinned in return as Naegi began to jump up and down in excitement.

 _Call me (call me) my love  
Call me, call me any, anytime  
Call me (call me) for a ride  
Call me, call me for some overtime  
Call me (call me) my love  
Call me, call me in a sweet design  
Call me (call me), call me for your lover's lover's alibi  
Call me (call me) on the line  
Call me, call me any, anytime  
Call me (call me)_

 _Oh, call me, oh, oh, ah  
Call me (call me) my love  
Call me, call me any, anytime_

As the song began to fade, Naegi put her arm around Hinata and made them both bow as the crowd cheered for an encore.

As her gaze drifted over the crowd she was surprised to find the rest of their friends among the cheering crowd. Asahina and Junko were cheering loudly while Sakura filmed them and took pictures with her phone.

Chiaki was clapping loudly for them.

And Komaeda and Mukuro looked completely awestruck.

Naegi blew her boyfriend a kiss and he flushed which only cause her to laugh.

The crowd suddenly started shouting and Naegi and Hinata turned to see two men making their way to the stage. Must be the missing members then, Naegi and Hinata made as if to get down but were both pulled back by the band members.

"Another round of applause for these two! Weren't they amazing!" the man with the short black hair said as he slung and arm around Naegi's shoulders.

The other guy with brown hair and sunglasses dragged Hinata to the other microphone. "How about one more song with these two joining us?"

The crowd shouted shouts of agreement.

Three more people stepped onto the stage with violins and Naegi shared a confused frown with Hinata before the three violinist began playing and Naegi laughed in recognition as Hinata let out a cheer of his own as he and the other guitarist began to play.

Naegi turned to the vocalist and started clapping along with him as they opened their mouths to sing.

 _Come on Eileen  
Come on Eileen_

 _Poor old Johnny Ray  
Sounded sad upon the radio  
But he moved a million hearts in mono  
Our mothers cried, sang along, who'd blame them_

 _You're grown (so grown up)  
So grown (so grown up) now I must say more than ever  
Come on Eileen  
Too ra loo ra too ra loo rye aye  
And we can sing just like our fathers_

Naegi let herself be twirled by the vocalist as they sang together.

 _Come on Eileen, oh I swear (what he means)  
At this moment, you mean everything  
You in that dress, my thoughts I confess  
Verge on dirty  
Ah, come on Eileen_

 _Come on Eileen_

 _These people 'round here  
Wear beat down eyes sunk in smoke dried faces  
They're resigned to what their fate is  
But not us, (no never) no not us (no never)  
We are far to young and clever  
Remember_

 _Too ra loo ra too ra loo rye aye  
And you'l hum this tune forever_

 _Come on Eileen oh I swear (what he means)  
Ah come on lets, take off everything  
That pretty red dress, Eileen (tell him yes)  
Ah come on lets, ah come on Eileen  
That pretty red dress, Eileen (tell him yes)  
Ah come on lets, ah come on Eileen, please_

As the song began to slow down the crowd clapped along slowly as they band began to pick up the pace as time went on.

The three violinists picked up speed and Naegi laughed as she danced around.

 _Come on Eileen too rye aye  
Come on Eileen too rye aye  
Now you're full grown  
Now you have shown  
Oh, Eileen_

 _Said, come on Eileen  
These things they are real and I know  
How you feel  
Now I must say more than ever  
Things round here have changed  
I say, too ra loo ra, too ra-loo rye aye_

 _Come on Eileen_

 _Oh, I swear (what he means)  
At this moment, you mean everything  
You in that dress, my thoughts I confess  
Verge on dirty  
Aah, come on Eileen_

 _Oh, come on Eileen_

 _Oh, I swear (what he means)  
At this moment, you mean everything  
In that dress, oh my thoughts I confess  
Well, they're dirty  
Come on Eileen_

 _Come on Eileen_

The crowd shouted louder than the last song they'd sand and Naegi threw her arms around Hinata once the song finished.

"So," she said in excitement, "Am I forgiven for ditching you for ramen last week?"

Hinata's lips twitched in amusement before he ruffled her hair, "Oh you are so forgiven! This was seriously the best!"

They bowed once last time to the crowd and thanked the band for the opportunity before they made their way over to their friends with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Asahina wrapped them both in a hug and couldn't stop squealing and chattering about how good they were.

Junko wiped a tear from her eye, as she looked Naegi up and down, "Thank god I picked some of your outfit, you looked good. I'm so proud."

Chiaki and Mukuro came up with pictures that they had taken with their phones as Sakura crossed her arms and looked at them in amazement.

Komaeda looked dazed, as if it this was the first time he'd seen them for the first time before he wrapped his arms around them and pecked Naegi on the cheek.

As everyone made their way to the crowd to enjoy the rest of the concert, Asahina looked them all over and said, "We should definitely come back to the beach next time!"

No one argued.

* * *

Songs used in the story:

Call Me by Blondie

Come on Eileen by The Dexy's Midnight Runners

As alway, please leave a review and tell me what you thought!

Until next time!


	10. Chapter 10

"The only reason why I get jealous is because remember we started off as friends too."  
― **josh lawton**

Chapter 10

Naegi wasn't jealous.

She really wasn't.

In fact, if one were to ask her how she felt about her boyfriend hanging out with Karen Kisaragi who was such a shy girl, Naegi would say she was proud that Komaeda was actually holding a conversation with a complete stranger so flawlessly.

And if she gripped her pencil a little too tight that it snapped when the girl placed her hand on her boyfriends shoulder then they were lying.

She wasn't jealous.

She was just…a little irritated.

Ever since this group project began, she hadn't had time to hang out with Komaeda at all.

It wasn't his fault though.

It was their teachers' fault.

Why the four teachers decided that their students needed to bond because of a food fight that was caused by Ruruka was anyone's guess.

To be honest, the food fight was actually pretty fun in her opinion. Hinata and her were getting pretty tired of the mystery meatball anyway; they were all too happy to cover Ruruka from head to toe in the stuff.

It had all started out like any other day, and Hinata was telling their group of friends a joke with a lot of hand gestures when he'd accidentally hit Ruruka at the back of her head when she was passing by.

He'd apologized, but this was Ruruka.

She didn't take it very well.

The next thing Hinata knew, Ruruka had thrown her tray of food all over his head and the room had gone silent.

That is until Naegi got up and threw a meatball at the smirking Ruruka catching her by surprise.

The next thing Naegi knew, Junko had climbed the table and declared food fight and everything else became a blurry mess.

Most of the other classes had left in fear except for class 76, 77, 78, and 79th.

Komaeda had covered her body with his own while she attacked those who tried to throw any food at them.

Asahina and Sakura were a force to be reckoned with. Every shot that hit Asahina was returned tenfold by Sakura that most students stayed away in fear. Kyoko wisely chose to be near the two at all times.

Mukuro was covering her sister and Chiaki while the other two threw bowls of soup at Saionji and Teruteru who was clinging to the girl for safety.

Fukawa was covering Togami with her body, which he did not enjoy. In fact, the guy was spouting profanities at the girl to let him go but the girl was not deterred.

Owari and Nidai were taking samples of anything that looked good and having a good time.

Pekoyama was swinging back any food that was thrown Kuzuryu's way with her wooden sword while Kuzuryu, Owada, and Leon were throwing anything they could find at Sonia, Celestia, and Ibuki.

Soda and Koizumi tried to cover Sonia to no avail while Ishimaru was trying to bring order back.

Hagakure had crawled under the tables in a fetal position along with Tsumiki and Ryota with Tanaka and Sayaka who were standing guard, which was kind of embarrassing to be honest.

Fujisaki and Yamada wisely took refuge behind the trashcans and were watching in interest, that is until some students from class 76 found them and they had to join the food fight.

Hinata and Naegi were in the middle of throwing the rest of their meal at Ruruka and Izayoi when the teachers finally arrived and put a stop to their shenanigans.

After that, the teachers had decided to place the four classes in groups of two with the assignment of getting to know the person you were partnered with.

* * *

It had been a week and a half since then and Naegi already missed her boyfriend.

They still had lunch together with the others but Karen kept coming over for small things and kept claiming she needed Komaeda's help with it.

Don't get her wrong, Naegi liked Karen. She'd talked to the girl on numerous occasions and Naegi was glad that the shy girl was coming out of her shell but did she really _need_ Komaeda's help in picking out new glasses?

Naegi certainty didn't think so.

She hadn't been too happy when Komaeda had canceled their plans to the movies to go pick out the new glasses with Karen.

Komaeda and Karen were currently sitting three tables away working on their own assignment when Karen playfully ruffled Komaeda's hair and Naegi snapped her second pencil that day.

"Hey, are you listening?"

Startled, Naegi whipped her head to see Sohnosuke Izayoi with his arms crossed over his chest and giving her an unimpressed stare.

Naegi flushed at being caught staring at her boyfriend and cleared her throat in embarrassment.

When Naegi had found out that Ruruka's boyfriend was her assigned partner, she'd been a little worried.

The last time the two had interacted, Naegi had kicked him away from her when he'd groped her breasts.

So one could understand her worry.

The first day the two had sat together in the library, things had been awkward. Naegi had tried to initiate a conversation, but Izayoi had remained silent until the bell rang and he'd walked away.

The second day found Naegi having lunch with Asahina and Sakura. Komaeda had left a few minutes earlier due to Karen wanting to work on their assignment. Naegi felt a little sad, but she understood. Hinata and Chiaki were off with their own assigned partners, and so it was just the three of them.

Why did people want to work on their assignments during lunchtime? Why not after school like normal people?

Just when Naegi was finally going to get some food, she saw Ruruka spill ketchup all over her shirt before she turned to her boyfriend and demanded he give her his clothes. Izayoi hesitated but handed over his shirt and jacket to her with no argument leaving Izayoi bear chested and cold.

Naegi felt a little bad and was just about to head over when the bell rang and her friends dragged her back to class.

Izayoi probably had a spare change of clothes anyway she thought.

It wasn't until she saw him after school to work on their assignment that she was proven wrong. The poor guy was still bear chested and shaking and so feeling sorry for him, Naegi had handed him her jacket.

He'd been a little shocked at the gesture but he'd taken the jacket anyway. It was a little small on him but he didn't seem to mind.

After that, both of them had gotten along pretty well together, and Naegi was surprised to find herself laughing along with him whenever he made jokes with such a serious face.

The guy wasn't as bad as she thought he was.

Perhaps Ruruka was just a bad influence.

At least she hadn't been partnered with Ruruka like Junko was.

Naegi's eyes flickered to the table in the back were both girls were currently sitting and glaring daggers at each other.

From what Junko told her, the blonde was waiting for Ruruka to cave so they could finally start on their assignment but so far, neither of them had done nothing but glare at each other.

A hand suddenly wrapped itself around Naegi's arm and before she could think about it, she curled her other hand into a fist and struck.

Fortunately for her, Izayoi easily caught her fist in his hand and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh," Naegi's eyes widened, "I'm sorry, I was-"

"Distracted?" Izayoi helpfully added.

Naegi flushed and ducked her head. "Yeah, sorry."

Izayoi sighed and started dragging her out of the library to her confusion.

"Where are we going? Study hall isn't over."

"We're going to get coffee because you're obviously too distracted here."

Naegi blinked. "Huh. Well okay, school will be over in half an hour anyway."

Izayoi let go of her hand and she picked up her pace to walk beside him, if she'd been paying attention she would have noticed Komaeda looking after her.

* * *

Karen Kisaragi was…clingy.

There was no other word for it really.

The girl was everywhere.

Komaeda needed to go to the restroom; Karen was there with a washcloth.

She constantly texted him every few minutes asking where he was.

She waited for him after class.

At one point she'd even shown up at his house with homemade lunch and tried to feed him.

Komaeda was honestly getting scared.

She'd been such a shy girl at the beginning.

The heck happened?

And to make matters worse, he hadn't been able to hang out with Naegi since this group project was assigned to them.

Komaeda missed his girlfriend.

He missed walking her home after school.

Heck, he even missed riding in Naegi's bike just for the fun of it and that thing still made him scream every time he and Naegi rode on it.

They hadn't done waffle breakfast with their friends like they recently started to do every Saturday and Sunday and he missed it.

Komaeda let out a sigh.

Currently he and Karen were at the library a few tables away from Naegi and Izayoi who were working on their own assignment. Komaeda had been worried about that little pairing at first, but it looked like the two were getting along pretty well to his surprise.

Komaeda had wanted to sit with the two but Karen insisted she couldn't concentrate with a lot of people so they had made their way to an empty table and gotten to work.

Naegi had looked a little sad to see him go.

Komaeda couldn't help but let his eyes stray to Naegi every now and then though.

Karen kept touching him and ruffling his hair and he was starting to get annoyed.

He'd almost gotten out of his seat when Naegi and Izayoi had gathered their bags and left the library only to be stopped by Karen.

So he had waited and once he'd finally finished the last questions making the assignment done, Komaeda got to his feet to leave only to be stopped by Karen again.

"We're not done yet," Karen said as she snagged his elbow.

Komaeda looked at her in confusion, "We just finished it. Like right now, so I'll be on my way now."

Her grip on his elbow only tightened. "Well, then help me go pick out my glasses!"

"We did that a few days ago…"

"I-I broke them!"

Komaeda raised an eyebrow. "You're wearing them right now though…"

Karen flushed and tried to come up with an explanation, "Then let's hang out and celebrate for our last day! It'll be on me, pretty please?"

Komaeda hesitated and sighed, "Fine, but only for an hour and then I have to go."

The girl brightened up and nodded before she gathered her stuff and after making sure he picked up his own bag, dragged him off to who knows where just as the school bell rang.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the two were at an ice cream stand and Karen was talking his ear off as they walked around the city.

Komaeda didn't mean to, but he wasn't really listening.

Maybe Naegi would want to hang out with him after this?

Her and Izayoi were probably around the area since they left school early.

His eyes strayed to the park they were passing when he saw a familiar brunette and he stopped in his tracks.

Karen walked ahead before she noticed he'd stopped and walked back.

Komaeda squinted and took a step forward.

Was that who he thought it was?

"Komaeda are you okay?"

He took another step forward and his eyes widened.

Before he could really think about it, he was running.

Karen called after him but he ignored her.

Just as the man got in Naegi's personal space, Komaeda hit the guy with his messenger man, causing the man to drop to his knees clutching his head, and Komaeda took the opportunity to clamp his hand on Naegi's hand before he started dragging them away.

Once they were a good distance away, Komaeda let go of Naegi's hand and put his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

Naegi crouched down and looked at him through hooded-lidded eyes. "You really need to work out," Komaeda threw her a glare but it looked more like a pout, "Are you okay?"

Komaeda got to his feet and started checking her over for injuries. "Am _I_ okay?" he said in exasperation, "Are _you_ okay?"

Naegi blinked and started giggling.

Komaeda furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

Naegi looked at him mischievously. "You came to my rescue." She got to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, "My hero."

Komaeda flushed and he was pretty sure his face had turned red. He crossed his arms and looked to the side, "So where's Izayoi?"

Naegi tilted her head and hummed as she tapped her chin, "We went our separate ways quite a while ago." Naegi looked around and raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend as she crossed her arms and looked to the side, "Where's Karen?"

Naegi internally winced. That had come out a little snotty, hopefully Komaeda wouldn't notice.

At Komaeda's raised eyebrows it seems she hadn't succeeded. Komaeda took a step forward and looked at her intently before speaking, "Naegi…are you jealous?"

Naegi's eyes widened and she spluttered and started flailing her arms as she tried to form a response before Komaeda's laughter made her stop.

Naegi looked at her boyfriend in bewilderment, "Are you laughing at me?"

Komaeda took one look at his girlfriend's reddened face and that only got him to start laughing all over again. Naegi pouted and crossed her arms.

The weather had gotten a little colder and Naegi zipped up her sweater to keep warm.

"Are you done?"

Komaeda's chuckles seized and he smiled at his girlfriend, "Oh come on, don't sulk Naegi. I couldn't help it, you're just so cute."

"…"

Komaeda ruffled Naegi's hair and a blinding smile overtook his face, "You actually like me a lot."

Naegi took a step forward and moved the bangs away from his face. "Of course I do."

He took another step forward until they were practically nose to nose, "I'm glad." And promptly kissed her.

Naegi had spent the last week and a half agonizing over all the time she was spending _not kissing Komaeda._ She realized now, with Komaeda's hands wrapped around her waist and Komaeda insistently kissing her back, that she had _missed_ this.

Komaeda kissed her as if he was a starving man and Naegi felt like she the familiar set of butterflies she always felt in her stomach when she kissed him. After what felt like forever, Naegi pulled back and knocked her forehead against Komaeda's as they tried to catch their breath.

"I was jealous," she whispered.

"What?" Komaeda mumbled, his eyes still shut and seeking her lips again. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and laid a kiss on her jaw.

Naegi shivered in delight."I was jealous of Karen. I didn't like how she was touching you."

Komaeda's eyes fluttered open and he had to blink several times before speaking, "Honestly? The girl freaks me out."

Naegi coughed out a laugh and ran her fingers over his hair silently pleased when Komaeda let out a little moan at the action.

"K-Komaeda?"

At the startled voice, both of them turned their heads to see Karen looking at them in shock.

The girl raised a shaky hand and pointed at the two, "You two…are a couple?"

Was that a squeak in her voice or was Naegi just imagining it?

Either way, it made her smile internally.

Bad Naegi.

Don't be mean.

Komaeda and Naegi shared a look before turning back to the green haired girl. Well this was embarrassing.

Komaeda got out of the embrace first and scratched his head nervously as his eyes bore into Karen, "Yeah. Naegi and I are a couple, I thought you knew."

Karen shakes her head frantically and backed up a step, "I thought that was a joke!"

Naegi raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her, "Why would you think that's a joke?"

"Well, because you're one of the most popular girls in school, why would you go out with him?"

Ouch.

Well that stung.

Naegi narrowed her eyes at her and took a step forward before intertwining her fingers with Komaeda's. "Because I like him." Cue the blush on her cheeks. "A lot."

Naegi felt Komaeda give her hand a squeeze and she naturally leaned into him.

After a while of staring at them back and forth Karen let out a sigh and slumped her hands at her side, "And here I thought I actually had a chance with him."

Naegi felt a little irritated at the statement and it must have shown because Komaeda answered for them both, "Sorry Karen. I only have eyes for Naegi."

Jeez, when had Komaeda turned into such a smooth talker?

Naegi felt her face warm and she would bet ten bucks that she was blushing _again._

Karen offered them a small smile and nodded. "I understand." She looked down at her feet and fumbled with her bracelet before she started talking in a small voice, "Can we still be friends though?"

Komaeda blinked in surprise but nodded nonetheless.

"But not too much touching," Naegi felt the need to add.

That brought out another burst of laughter from Komaeda and even Karen managed a few giggles.

Naegi didn't know what was so funny. She was totally serious.

After their laughter seized, Karen bid them both farewell and left them to themselves.

Komaeda turned to see Naegi pouting at him and a little smirk appeared on his lips. "You like me," he sang, "You want to kiss me."

Naegi tried to look stern but her lips twitched upwards and Komaeda took the chance to take a hold of her hand to twirl her to his chest. Naegi's surprised laughter made Komaeda grin and he swayed them around for a bit.

He wasn't much of a dancer but Naegi didn't seem to mind.

"Maybe I should make you jealous more often." He whispered into her ear.

Naegi chuckled as she turned so she was facing him and patted his cheek, "Oh, Nagito" she said in a sultry voice that sent a shiver down his spine, "Do it again and you'll lose something very dearly to you." Her eyes strayed down to his crotch and Komaeda swallowed.

A part of him was strangely aroused at the threat.

"Now then," Naegi stepped away from the embrace and started walking ahead, "How about you take me out to dinner?"

Komaeda grinned and ran after his girlfriend, "Yes ma'am."

A jealous Naegi was certainly something interesting; Komaeda couldn't help but feel a little loved.


	11. Chapter 11

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come."  
― William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Chapter 11

Komaeda had never planned a party, not even his own, but he guessed this was as good a time as any to learn. It was Makoto's birthday tomorrow and he and the rest of his friends had been planning her birthday party for a whole week now. Keeping it a secret had been hard though, Makoto kept eyeing them with suspicion all week and god damn, those _eyes!_

Komaeda had always been weak when it came to his girlfriend but all she had to do was bat her lashes at him and he wanted to spill all his darkest secrets to her.

Thank god for his friends though. They'd noticed his will crumbling and come to rescue him more times than he could count. Hinata would come with a ridiculous excuse that absolutely required Komaeda's help and Junko and Asahina would catch Makoto's attention with something else and they avoided the whole ordeal.

Unfortunetly, they'd used the same method over and over again and Makoto was down right suspicious at this point. Thankfully, the guy at the bar had called Makoto on Wednesday insisting that he was short staffed and needed help with the bar.

Makoto agreed to come help out for the next few days and Komaeda and his friends let out relieved sighs. Junko and Chiaki had already sent out the invites to their classmates at school with strict instructions to keep the party details quiet around Makoto. After much debating, they had decided to have the party at Komaeda's house on Sunday since it was the biggest.

* * *

There were two more invites that they had to hand out before they could finish the preparations though. Komaeda knew that Makoto was close with the manager at the bar; she talked about him constantly after all, so Komaeda definitely wanted to invite him.

There was also the issue of Makoto's family; he knew Makoto missed them terribly so he wanted to invite them as well. He talked to Hinata since he knew them personally but he was still nervous, this would be the first time they would speak. What if they didn't like him?

He shook his head. That didn't matter, at least not right now. As long as they could make it to Makoto's birthday party, he'd be satisfied. Besides, Hinata said he would help call them so he wouldn't have to do this alone.

With that settled, they decided to start off with the manager at the bar since they could actually meet him in person.

Hinata and Komaeda had gone to the bar an hour before Makoto's shift began on Thursday after school and after a bit of arguing they were let inside to talk to the manager. Komaeda would be lying if he said he wasn't shaking like a leaf when he saw the tall burly man at his full height. The man had a scar running down his right eye to his cheek, which only made his blue eyes look fiercer. He had a black thick beard that Hinata was positive had birds hidden inside.

Komaeda had given his friend a strange look at the comment and Hinata simply shrugged. "I saw it on a cartoon once, it's totally possible."

After a tense stare down that Komaeda was pretty sure he lost, the man led them to his office before taking a seat behind his desk and introduced himself as Sullivan Cooper. Hinata and Komaeda quickly took their seats in front of the man and introduced themselves. At Komaeda's name, the man narrowed his eyes at him and looked at him thoughtfully.

The silence that followed was so tense; one could cut it with a knife. Komaeda had a beat of sweat running down his cheek and Hinata kept fidgeting in his seat.

Finally, Sullivan leaned back on his seat and stared them down. "Why are you here?"

Hinata elbowed his friend on the ribs and practically squeaked, "Well, go on. You tell him."

Komaeda sent his traitor of a friend a look, which he chose to wisely ignore to look at a picture with a bull hanging on the left side of the room. Oh look, there was a person on the floor covered in blood under the bull. That certainly made being in this mans presence easier. Not.

Komaeda cleared his throat, "I don't know if you know this but, Makoto's birthday is this Sunday," Komaeda began nervously.

Sullivan crossed his arms. "I am aware."

Komaeda licked his suddenly dry lips, "Right. Well, my friends and I are going to be throwing her a surprise party this Sunday." The man raised an eyebrow at him and Komaeda sank down on his seat and finished in a rush, "And we were hoping you could make an appearance?"

The man was silent for a bit as he stared at them both and Hinata suddenly became religious as he prayed in his head that this man wouldn't eat them or something. Maybe he could jump out that window? Oh wait, there were bars outside of it.

Just as Hinata was seriously staring to consider trying to jump anyway, the man let out a small smile and nodded. "I and the rest of the people who are friendly with Makoto will be there."

Komaeda let out a relieved sigh and Hinata felt his heart start beating again as he quickly took out the invite that Junko had thrust into his hand before he and Komaeda had left earlier and handed it to Sullivan.

"Well, that has the location and the rest of the details. We should really get going," Hinata said as he got his shaking feet to move towards the door.

Komaeda lingered and looked back at Sullivan, "Try to keep quiet about this please. She's already suspicious."

Sullivan chuckled and Hinata almost pissed his pants; _that_ was this man's laugh?

"I'll make sure to keep her occupied." He said and Komaeda and Hinata opened the door only to turn back when the man called out to them once again, "And boys," Komaeda and Hinata looked him in the eye, "This better be one hell of a party. Don't disappoint me."

Both boys jumped and assured him it would be the best thing he'd ever seen before they practically ran out of the bar, the echoes of Sullivan's laughter following them all the way out.

Hinata and Komaeda had never run so fast in their lives.

* * *

With the hardest hurdle done, Hinata decided not to waste any more time and popped out his phone as he and Komaeda made their way back to the latters house and started calling Makoto's sister on Skype.

They only had to wait a few rings before a girl with short dark brown hair and green saturated eyes stared back at them. She looked so much like Makoto that Komaeda had to rub his eyes to make sure that it really wasn't his girlfriend. The girl even had an ahoge just like Makoto; maybe it ran in the family?

From what Komaeda could see in the background, it looked she was probably in her room judging by the bed he could see on the side. A few sheets of math division lay scattered around her desk.

Upon seeing who had called her she grinned and waved, "Hinata is that you?"

Hinata sported a grin of his own, "The one and only!"

The girl clapped her hands and squealed, "We haven't spoken in such a long time! How are you?"

Komaeda watched curiously from the side and made sure to steer his friend away from any upcoming polls or trashcans.

"Oh you know, same old same old. By the way Komaru, did you know it's Makoto's birthday this Sunday?"

Komaru nodded in excitement before she told them to wait as she put her phone down on her desk and disappeared from the screen only to come back with a birthday bag as she took a seat in her chair. "I got her something good! I was actually thinking of mailing it to her."

Hinata suddenly placed a hand over Komaeda's shoulder and pulled him to his side as Komaru watched curiously. "Well, actually me and my friend here were calling to see if you and you're folks could fly back home for her birthday this Sunday," Komaru made and oh sound and nodded for him to continue, "We're throwing her a surprise party. I think she'd really like seeing you all. She misses you guys."

Komaru's eyes got teary before a determined look took over her face, "Don't worry! We'll definitely be there! I'll convince my parents somehow!"

Hinata smiled, "Thanks kiddo. I'll text you the address and the time."

Komaru nodded before her eyes turned to Komaeda, "So who's your friend?"

Hinata's smiled widened and Komaeda suddenly turned nervous, "Why, this is my best friend Nagito Komaeda. And," he paused for dramatic effect, "He's Makoto's boyfriend!"

Komaru promptly fell off her chair and both males watched in amusement as she struggled to get back to her seat. When she did she could only stare at them both in shock before a smile bloomed on her face and she let out a high pitch squeal that had both males wincing.

"Finally!" she shouted as she spun in her chair, "Oh, I can't wait to officially meet you! Was this whole party your idea?"

Komaeda slowly nodded and Komaru's face softened, "You're a good one then. Take good care of my sister okay?"

Komaeda straightened and gave her a firm nod, "Of course. I'll treat her like a queen."

Hinata and Komaru stared at him proudly and all too soon Komaru was hanging up and promising them that she'd them on Sunday before the screen went dark and the friends were left to their own devices.

* * *

With the last of the invites handed out, the group finally decided to shop for decorations. Once Makoto had gone to her part-time job that Friday after school, the group made their way to the party store.

The excuse that they'd use had been so damn ridiculous that Komaeda couldn't help but laugh at the memory as they made their way inside the store.

The store was…colorful. There were decorations bursting from shelves on every isle that Komaeda didn't know where to start. Junko and Mukuro had made their way over to the piñatas sections where they were eyeing a giant Monokuma bear that Junko insisted they needed.

Chiaki had made her way the balloons and was scanning them with bright eyes. Asahina and Sakura were looking over at the table wear with a little too much intensity in his opinion.

Komaeda and Hinata were looking at lanterns before Sakura clapped her hands together to get their attention. "We should choose a theme for the party first," she declared with her arms crossed, "That will help in choosing the other items."

Junko raised her arm and at Sakura's nod she grinned, "I suggest we do a color theme!"

Hinata shrugged, "Sounds good to me. Any particular color?"

"Black and white?" Mukuro suggested.

Junko frowned at her sister, "We're not going to a funeral!"

Asahina tapped her chin, "What a bout the damask pink and black?" At everyone's raised eyebrows Asahina continued, "I mean it looks pretty stylish and out of all the other supplies here, the pink and black one looks the most mature."

Komaeda found himself nodding and made a beeline in the damask section, his friends hot on his heels.

"Where do we start?" Chiaki mused. "What do you guys think?"

"Ah, wait a second," Komaeda said, flustered as he took out his phone. "I did some research and I wrote down what was most essential."

The others peered over his shoulder to read the list and Junko clapped him on the back, "Damn. I'm impressed, looks like you've got everything covered."

Komaeda let out a little embarrassed laugh and scratched his neck. "I want everything to go perfectly."

"Such a good boyfriend," Asahina teased as she nudged him with her elbow.

Komaeda turned red and muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'stop embarrassing me jeez.'

Sakura squared her shoulders, "All right, let's get a move on then!"

They'd bought a lot of stuff in the end, perhaps more than they would need but Komaeda was certainly satisfied. If he were to be honest, looking at the stuff excited him. Makoto was going to absolutely love this.

After leaving the party store, Asahina gave Mukuro directions to a bakery that she frequented and soon enough the welcoming scent of baked bread greeted them. Hinata inhaled the sweet scent before making his way over to the cupcakes in display.

"These are my favorites," Asahina declared. She was pointing at a batch of donuts on display and Junko rolled her eyes before making her way to the cakes. Mukuro and Komaeda followed after her while Sakura and Chiaki looked at the donuts that Asahina was eagerly pointing at.

"Should we get some for the party?" Komaeda suggested.

Asahina beamed and starting pointing out all the other things that she thought Makoto would like.

In the end they ordered about three dozen cupcakes and put an order of two vanilla cakes to be delivered on Sunday for the party.

Teruteru had heartily agreed to cook for the event and would be there bright and early to start cooking. Tanaka and Mitarai offered to help him as well, which he eventually agreed to. Mioda and Maizono had agreed to sing for the occasion, Leon apparently joining them on stage with his guitar.

Fujisaki and Tsumiki wanted to come early and help put up the decorations along with Kyoko and surprisingly enough Byakuya as well. Something about making sure the place looked adequate if he was stepping a foot inside.

Sonia had insisted she bring a few of her waiters from home to help them in anything else. Owada and Kuzuryu said they'd bring over their grills for the barbeque they'll be setting up in the backyard.

Owari and Nidai declared that they'd be bringing in the meat while Toko was trying to convince Hagakure not to set up a fortune telling booth in the backyard. Celestia and Yamada insisted on bringing tea to go for the cake with Ishimaru tagging along.

Everything was coming along nicely.

Only two more days to go.

* * *

Makoto Naegi was not an idiot. Her friends were clearly up to something, she just didn't know what. All throughout the week, they had all been huddled together and whispering about something important, judging by their expressions, until she walked up to them.

Upon seeing her, they would immediately disperse and greet her with a bit of a pitch in their voices. She didn't say anything; clearly whatever they were talking about was about her. She didn't really mind.

If anything, the whole thing was a bit amusing to watch. Some of the excuses they came up with were just downright hilarious she couldn't help but be amused. Like on Wednesday, she wanted to go get ramen with Komaeda after school and she just watched as her boyfriend turned red and kept looking at everywhere but her when Hinata cut in between them and said he absolutely needed Komaeda's help with something.

When she asked her friend what he needed, Hinata's eyes had almost bugged out of his head before he blurted out that a strange rash had appeared on his penis and he wanted Komaeda to come with him to get it checked out.

The silence that followed the statement was downright hilarious for everyone but Hinata whose whole face had turned red as the remaining people in the school campus gave him an odd look. There were a few giggles and Makoto was tempted to join them but she just nodded seriously and clamped a hand on her best friends shoulder and said in a very loud voice to go get that rash in his privates checked out immediately.

Hinata coughed uncomfortably and all but hauled a confused Komaeda along with him and left her alone until Junko and Asahina went to distract her. They'd both looked a little too relieved when she got a call a few minutes later that she'd be working after school for the next few days.

Suspicious.

That whole "rash in my privates" excuse was clearly a lie but she was just too amused by the whole concept that she let it go. They'd tell her eventually.

They weren't the only ones who were acting strange though. Her classmates had been acting rather odd as well. They were a little too jumpy and nervous around her which had confused her at first that is until she saw Kyoko and Maizono talking with Junko and Asahina.

Clearly her classmates were in on whatever her friends were up to. Makoto tapped her chin, very interesting.

* * *

When Friday rolled around, her friends were down right tense around her. She was secretly delighted and wondered what excuse they would come up with today. After paying for her food Makoto walked up to their table in the cafeteria and watched as her friends quickly came up with a random topic as to not arouse suspicion.

Makoto snorted.

Too late for that.

For a while Makoto just quietly ate her food and watched while her friends talked about this new movie that they wanted to watch before Makoto felt the urge to ruffle their feathers.

After taking a drink of her juice she cleared her throat, her friends immediately tensed, and asked if they wanted to hang out for a bit after school. Her shift wouldn't start for another two hours so she had time to spare.

Komaeda turned pale, Hinata choked on his food and Chiaki immediately slapped him on the back, Junko was looking at her nails like they were the most interesting thing in the world and Mukuro was starting to sweat. Asahina looked ready to bolt from the table and Sakura refused to meet her eyes.

Oh this was going to be fun.

Makoto looked down at her lap and stuck out her bottom lip and she was a little pleased that she made her voice wobble, "It's just…we haven't hung out for a while now," Queue the puppy eyes, "Did I do something wrong?"

Negative shouts were immediately thrown her way and Makoto almost laughed. Almost.

People were already staring at them and Makoto saw Kyoko and Byakuya face palm in the background. Kuzuryu and Owada were wringing their hands nervously as they looked on.

Makoto tilted her head and pouted, "So then why have you guys been avoiding me?"

Her friends all looked at each other before Asahina decided to take the plunge, "It's because of my llama!" she shouted.

There were a few collective grounds in the background as everyone turned to look at the tan girl with wide eyes.

Did Hagakure slam his face on the table?

"Your…llama?" Makoto asked curiously.

Asahina flailed her arms, "Yeah! My llama is sick and everyone's been coming over to help me take care of him!"

Hinata looked torn between crying and bursting into laughter. Junko was shaking her head and muttering something about idiots. Mukuro was biting her lip in worry as Chiaki covered her mouth to smother her laughter. Komaeda's eye was twitching and only Sakura backed her friend's excuse with a solemn nod.

Makoto let out a gasp, "Oh my gosh the poor thing! I'll come over and help!"

"No!" seven voices shouted.

Makoto looked her friends over, clearly puzzled. "But why not?"

Her friends looked at each other for an excuse until Chiaki finally spoke up, "You're allergic!"

Hinata whipped his head to her, "She is?"

Junko slapped him on the head.

"Oh, right," he said as he rubbed his head and shot a glare at the blonde. "I forgot."

"I am?" Makoto asked.

Komaeda put his hand on top of hers and nodded solemnly. Makoto quirked an eyebrow and squeezed his hand.

Her friends were fucking with her.

It was downright hilarious but she was having too much fun to call them on it.

Asahina picked up the conversation again and pointed at her, "The other day you sneezed!"

Makoto thought back before she replied, "I'm pretty sure that was because of the wind."

Hinata shook his head furiously at her, "It was because of the llama!"

Makoto crossed her arms and peered up at her friends, her green eyes doubtful. "Really?"

"Yup!" Asahina went on, "I was wearing that green sweater the other day remember?" at Makoto's hesitant nod, Asahina smiled, "I used that sweater to wrap my llama in because he was sick and when I got too close to you, you sneezed!"

"Why didn't you use a blanket?"

Asahina paled and Sakura took over for her, "Because we were staying over and Hina lent us her blankets."

Makoto furrowed her eyebrows before she nodded to herself and she fished her pockets for her phone before she started typing furiously.

Her friends looked at her in worry.

"Um," Hinata asked when no one said anything, "What are you doing?"

"I know a really good vet, so I'm calling him right now."

"No!" her friends shouted at her.

Startled, Makoto dropped her phone in shock and looked at her friends. "What? But the llama-"

"Forget the damn llama!" Hinata shouted frantically at her.

Makoto gasped at him in shock, "Hinata! That poor creature could be dying!"

"Yeah Hinata," Junko said while pulling his ear.

He hissed something back to her and Makoto just looked at them back and forth in confusion before Asahina spoke over them, "What he means is that there's no need for you to go through all the trouble! We already took him to the vet and its just a little cold, he should be back to normal in a few more days."

Makoto picked up her phone from the floor and gripped it in her hands. "Are you sure? Maybe I could still come and help."

Hinata pulled at his hair before he got up from his seat and cupped her cheeks and leaned in close, "Stop trying to help! For the love of god please!"

Makoto blinked at him rapidly before she felt a hand on her shoulder and just managed to turn her eyes to see Komaeda looking at her, "What he means is that you're allergic. We wouldn't want to make you sick."

Makoto nodded numbly before her friends let out sighs of relief and Hinata slumped back in his seat. Makoto opened her mouth to say something else and her friends tensed before the bell rang indicating that lunch was over.

Her friends had never so run so fast to class in their lives. Makoto stared after them with a blank face before she made her way to the restroom.

After making sure no one else was in the restroom, Makoto lost it and doubled over laughing. A llama? Seriously?

What kind of excuse was that? Oh gosh. Their expressions were hilarious!

She couldn't breathe! It was too funny! Her knees gave out and she fell to her side clutching her stomach as she laughed and laughed. Tears pricked her eyes, spilling over her cheeks and still she couldn't stop laughing.

Makoto didn't leave the restroom for another ten minutes.

* * *

Saturday was a busy day for her at work but it was kind of exciting. Sully brought in a Lemur.

A _Lemur!_

The thing was frickin adorable! It seems it'd taken a liking to her because throughout the day it perched itself on her shoulder and played with her hair. She didn't mind one bit.

Sully brought it apples whenever they had a break and both he and Makoto watched in interest and made cooing sounds as it ate.

That is until Jason, Sully's husband, came to take him home. Makoto and a few other customers audibly whined at this and Sully gave his husband a pout complete with the puppy eyes that Makoto had thought him that Jason finally threw his hands up and relented.

King Julian, the lemur (Makoto almost bust a gut over the name), stayed for another two hours before Jason finally took him home. Everyone had taken turns singing karaoke with King Julian and Makoto insisted that she and King Julian were the best duo.

She managed to take plenty of pictures with him and couldn't wait to send them to her friends.

But not now.

Perhaps when they finally told her about this secret they were keeping from her.

The rest of the day was spent with a little Netflix and a plate of nachos before she promptly passed out on the couch till the next morning.

* * *

Today was the day Komaeda thought. It was Makoto's birthday and he was already up at eight thirty in the morning with plenty of energy. Teruteru, Tanaka and Mitarai were already making themselves busy in his kitchen and something spicy hit his nose as he inhaled.

Hinata and the rest of their friends were on their way to his house to decorate the place. Komaeda glanced at the time and decided that a shower was in order and hopped right in.

He hoped everything went smoothly today. Everyone was pitching in and he was thankful to them all. Four months ago, he'd never be doing something like this for anyone else (besides Hinata) and he was honestly excited. He couldn't seem to stop smiling.

The day Makoto Naegi had walked through those library doors had been the best thing in his life. She'd changed him. Made him more confident in himself. Showed him what it means to love someone. Makoto had taught him to open up to people more, to have faith in himself and to stop isolating himself more.

If someone had told him four months ago that he would be going out with one of the prettiest girls in school and have actual friends in school, he would have told them to go to the doctor.

Makoto had given him so much and she deserved only the best. Rinsing the shampoo from his hair, Komaeda turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around his waist as he made his way to his closet and pulled out some black skinny jeans and a navy blue shirt and hastily pulled them up. It was when he was putting on his gray Watkins boots that he noticed the little black box perched on his desk.

He finished tying his boots before he picked up the box in his hands and opened it up. Inside lay a blue heart necklace that he had bought Makoto for her birthday and turned it over to look at the engraving he'd had done.

 _I Love you to the Moon and Back Makoto Naegi_

He hoped she liked it. He'd seen her eyeing it a few weeks back and had gone back to the store a few days later to have the engraving done. It'd taken them over two weeks to finish the details and he'd been planning on giving it to her earlier when Hinata informed him that Makoto's birthday was coming up.

Komaeda tousled his hair and closed the box before shoving it in his back pocket when the doorbell rang. He quickly made his way downstairs and opened the door to see his friends with bags in their arms. Behind them, Fujisaki, Tsumiki, Kyoko and Byakuya stood with wrapped presents in their arms. Well, everyone except Byakuya who had two men holding his overly large present for him.

Komaeda stepped aside to let them enter his home and Byakuya sniffed before muttering," It's adequate. I approve." To Komaeda and made his way inside with the others.

"Thank you?" Komaeda said uncertainly.

The blond heir turned his blue eyes on Komaeda before dipping his chin down in a nod, "You're welcome."

"All right everyone!" Junko exclaimed loudly, "We got a house to decorate!"

Everyone took a bag and got started.

* * *

It was almost nearing three when Hinata's phone rang. He placed the cupcakes that had just been delivered on the table before placing the phone to his ear. Komaru's voice greeted him on the end and Hinata smiled, "Hey, Hinata! Our plane will be landing in Hope City in another twenty minutes! Are you guys coming to pick us up or should we call a cab?"

Hinata grinned and told her to hold on before calling Mukuro over. The black haired girl came in carrying one of the cakes with her and looked at him curiously before he spoke, "Hey, mind giving me a ride to pick up Makoto's parents from the airport?"

"Oh," Mukuro said, her eyes widening before she let out a little smile, "Sure thing, let me just get my keys and I'll meet you outside okay?"

At Hinata's nod Mukuro placed the cake inside the fridge before making her way outside. Hinata put the phone back on his ear to inform Komaru that they were on their way before hanging up.

As he was about to put his phone away, a message popped up onto his screen and he tapped it open and read its content. His eyes widened before he made a beeline to the living room where the others were still decorating and got their attention, "Makoto's shift ends at three! What if she comes over?"

Everyone started speaking over each other before Komaeda broke through the chaos and said he'd keep her away for a while. Hinata let out a relieved sigh and tugged his friend outside where Mukuro was already waiting in her car. At Komaeda's appearance she sent Hinata a puzzled look before he quickly explained the circumstances and Mukuro nodded in understanding.

Mukuro turned the ignition and put the car to drive. As they were leaving the house, Kuzuryu and Owada were making their way to the back with the grills and Mioda and Maizono were just arriving, a truck trailing behind them with all the equipment they would need for their performance.

* * *

After dropping Komaeda off outside of the bar where Makoto worked at, Komaeda waved goodbye to his friends before he leaned back on one of the trees where he could get a clear look at the entrance and waited for his girlfriend to emerge.

Hinata promised he'd text him when they were all ready so Komaeda had better keep Makoto distracted for a good while until they had everything set up.

Komaeda didn't have to wait long before a familiar head of brown hair caught his attention and he stepped forward and waved. Makoto looked surprised to see him but she smiled and made her way over to him.

She looked beautiful. She was wearing her black ripped skinny jeans with her black stud and buckle biker boots. Today she was wearing a green V-neck shirt underneath her black leather jacket that Junko had given her a few weeks back as a present. The wind made her hair sway to the right and Komaeda's breath caught.

As soon as she was within three feet in front of him, Komaeda kneeled on one knee and took her hand in his before kissing it, "Komaeda Nagito at your service."

Makoto giggled and kissed his cheek as he got to his feet before placing her hands around his neck and leaning into him, "Where you waiting for me?" she teased him.

Komaeda placed his hands on her waist and shrugged, "Guilty. Want to go for a drive?"

Makoto blinked at him in surprise before smiling, "Really? I thought you hated Deathtrap."

Oh he did. He didn't particularly like getting on Makoto's motorcycle but he supposed it was nice every now and then. He still couldn't believe Makoto had named her bike 'Deathtrap' just because he kept calling it that. When Hinata had heard, he'd burst out laughing and said the name suited the bike.

"It's nice every once in a while."

"Got a lot on your mind?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, "What makes you think that?"

Makoto placed her hands on his brow and smoothed back the little furrow between his eyes. "That. You're frowning, and you only frown this much when you have something on your mind. Want to talk about it?"

Komaeda hesitated before shaking his head. At Makoto's disappointed face he quickly kissed her nose and promised he'd tell her later. She beamed and took his hand as he led her to the rack of motorcycles lined up at the side of the bar before offering him one of the helmets. He took it and placed it on his head and waited for Makoto to take a seat before clamoring behind her and placing his arms around her waist.

"Any particular destination?" she asked him as she placed her own helmet over her head.

Komaeda thought about it for a bit before replying, "Somewhere quiet."

Makoto nodded before she put some music on her phone, placed it on her back pocket and revved the engine before they were off.

* * *

This was nice Komaeda thought as he leaned his head on Makoto's back and listened to the song that was currently playing in his girlfriends phone. They'd left the city quite a while ago and were surrounded in nothing but nature.

Komaeda closed his eyes and tightened his hands around Makoto's waist as she hummed along to the song. Makoto always had very good taste in music and thankfully it was nothing too loud to ruin the mood.

They hadn't spoken much throughout the ride except for the occasional remark about something that looked interesting. Otherwise it was quiet between them but neither of them seemed to mind. It was nice to just be in each other's presence like this every once in a while.

Makoto seemed to be enjoying herself judging by the little smile he could see from the side. Eventually Makoto turned her slightly in his direction and began to speak, "So Sully brought a Lemur to work."

Komaeda startled and he blinked rapidly before replying, "A what?"

She grinned and made another turn in the highway, "A lemur."

"Ah, so I heard right."

"Guess what his name is."

"Simon."

"Nope."

"Princess."

"It's a boy."

"So prince?"

"Nope. Give up?"

Komaeda nodded.

"His name is King Julian."

Komaeda burst out laughing.

"And," Makoto continued, he could practically feel the smile that was surely adorning her face, "He absolutely loves me."

"Oh?" Komaeda quirked an eyebrow, "Am I sensing some competition here?"

Makoto was quiet far too long for his liking and he gripped her thigh as his voice let out a squeaky sound, "Sweetie? You're kidding right?"

Makoto giggled. "Well, he does bring me treats…"

"I bring you treats! I gave you a lollipop that one time!"

"And he knows how to braid my hair…" she finished thoughtfully.

"Baby I can change!"

Makoto burst out laughing and a second later he joined her.

They were laughing because it wasn't true right? He was clearly better than King Julian? Right?

Komaeda's phone suddenly beeped and he untangled one hand from Makoto's waist to retrieve the device.

 _Preparations are complete! Bring her over!_ Hinata's message read.

Nodding to himself, Komaeda quickly put the device away in his back pocket and poked Makoto's stomach to get her attention.

"Want to come over and just have a little Netflix marathon?"

Makoto hummed, "Will there be snacks?"

"What kind of monster do you think I am?"

Makoto giggled before she did a U-turn that had Komaeda gripping her waist tighter before she started driving them back to his house.

"Well, if you insist." She teased.

* * *

Once Makoto parked her bike at the side, they started making their way inside. It was already six in the afternoon and the sun was just beginning to set when they arrived. Komaeda fished out his phone and sent Hinata a quick text to inform his friend that they'd arrived before he retrieved his keys from his pockets and opened the door.

"Whoa, it's a little dark here huh?" Makoto mused as Komaeda took her hand and starting leading her to the living room.

The house was eerily quiet, even Lucky hadn't come up to greet them. Hinata must be keeping him quiet, he'd best hurry and take them to the living room before Lucky got out of Hinata's hold and ruined the surprise for them.

Komaeda and Makoto stopped at the living room before Komaeda turned on the lights before a chorus of 'Happy Birthday!' greeted them and Makoto reeled back in surprise before landing on her butt.

"W-what?" Makoto stuttered, "Birthday?"

"It's your birthday dude!" Hinata said with a sly grin on his face.

"Only you would forget your own birthday," Byakuya scoffed with a smirk.

"Oh Makoto," Kyoko said with a shake of her head.

"Honestly dear, at least try to remember the day you were born." A feminine voice said and Makoto whipped her head to the side to see her parents and her sister Komaru staring back at her.

Her mother's gentle face was looking at her with a small smile as she helped her to her feet and kissed her cheek. Komaru gave her a hug before she stepped to the side so Makoto could see her father.

He had a few tears already forming in his eyes and before she knew it her father attacked her with a bear hug that raised her off her feet. And, despite it making her back crack, it was the best hug of her life.

Apparently she'd forgotten her birthday. But her friends hadn't. They'd been planning this party for the past week hence all the little lies they kept telling her to stay away.

Looking around the place, Makoto had to give her friends credit. They'd done a hell of a job. Pink and black lanterns were hanging at the ceiling, balloons with the words ' _Happy Birthday Makoto'_ were scattered around the house and there was a very delicious smell coming from the kitchen.

A table lay at the far corner filled to the brim with presents for her. All her classmates were here as well and they all greeted her with warm welcomes and hugs. Yes even Byakuya. She had pulled him in for tight hug and although he tensed he gradually relaxed and hugged her back.

Kuzuryu, Owada, and Nidai both gave her hugs that included her feet dangling off the floor just like her dad's hug but she didn't mind.

Even Sully and King Julian had made an appearance. As soon as King Julian saw her he leaped from Sully's shoulders across the room that had a few people ducking in fear before promptly landing on Makoto's shoulder and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Tanaka seemed eager to get his hands on King Julian and she wasn't surprised at all when the lemur took an instant like to him. Tanaka had a way with animals after all.

Koizumi was taking pictures of everything and everyone and told everyone to come up to her if they wanted any particular photos. As people started making their way to the back yard Makoto's jaw dropped at the giant stage that had been set up near the pool.

Was that a Monokuma piñata?

"Holy shit!" she yelled.

"Watch your mouth," her dad said. "Who are you, your mother?"

Her mother sent her husband a pout and everyone laughed. Soon enough Teruteru announced that the food was ready and Owari, Soda, and Hagakure eagerly got to their feet to get first dibs.

Some of Sonia's waiters began to come out with platters of small appetizers that everyone eagerly took. Makoto took the chance to drag Komaeda to her parents where she introduced them to each other.

"Mom, dad, Komaru this is Komaeda Nagito. My boyfriend."

Her father's eyes bugged out and he froze. Her mother on the other hand gave Komaeda a peck on the cheek before hugging him as she introduced herself as Ayame Naegi. Komaru waved and hugged him as well.

Ayame pointed to her husband, "And this goofball over here is my husband Ryou Naegi. Don't worry, it takes his brain a little while to catch up the poor dear."

Ryou sent his wife a glare as Komaru and Makoto laughed.

Komaeda extended his hand to Mr. Naegi and managed to find his voice, "Hello sir, it's very nice to meet you. Makoto has told me about you."

Ryou took Komaeda's hand and gave it a firm shake before he raised a brown eyebrow at his eldest daughter, "Good things I hope?"

Makoto hummed, "Well I did tell him about that one time you stubbed your toe-"

Mr. Naegi paled.

"-And how you insisted you couldn't walk and this was how your life was going to end."

"You didn't…" Mr. Naegi said with a shake of his head.

Makoto grinned and leaned in close to her dad, "Oh I did. I even told him about the will you wrote out in and I quote "your deathbed" before we realized you just had a fever and were just delirious."

Komaeda couldn't help it. He laughed. He laughed very hard and even when Mr. Naegi shot him a glare he just laughed harder.

Mrs. Naegi giggled, swept her long brown hair over her shoulder, and nodded in approval, "Ah, good times." She looked over at Komaeda before she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I have the whole thing on video if you ever want to see it."

Mr. Naegi whipped his head at his wife and stomped his foot on the ground like a child, "Ayame! Stop embarrassing me _god!"_

Hinata walked over at that moment, took in the scene and grinned, "Oh are we making fun of Ryou? I got plenty of stories."

Mr. Naegi leveled a flat glare at Hinata before crossing his arms, "Remember I have dirt on you too Mister."

Komaeda joined in, "If it's stories about Hinata, I have quite a few as well. Remember that time I caught you wearing a girls skirt in your room?"

Hinata promptly shut his mouth.

Mr. Naegi turned to Komaeda and gave him a once over, his light green eyes appraising him before a toothed grin appeared on his face, "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

Komaeda returned the grin with one of his own before nodding, "I think so too."

The rest of the Naegi family looked over at them all with a smile but none compared to the smile sporting Makoto's lips as she looked over at her father and Komaeda. At least she wouldn't have to worry about them not getting along.

* * *

Once everyone had a tray of food in their hands, Maizono, Mioda and Leon got up on stage. After a bit of hesitation, Nidai, Pekoyama, and Ishimaru joined them as well.

Makoto stared in surprise; she didn't know the other three knew how to play an instrument. Soon enough Mioda and Maizono took a microphone and wished her a happy birthday before they started playing.

 _I guess you wanna know_

 _Why I'm on the phone_

 _It's been a day or so_

 _I know it's kinda late_

 _But happy birthday_

Everyone began to clap to the rhythm and Koizumi was clicking away on her camera.

 _Yeah yeah whoa oh_

 _I know you hate me_

 _Yeah yeah whoa oh_

 _Well I miss you too_

 _Yeah yeah I know_

 _I know it's kinda late_

 _But happy birthday_

Komaeda wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him, she couldn't stop smiling. As the phone came to an end everyone in the crowd turned to Makoto and shouted along with Mioda and Maizono "Happy Birthday Makoto! You're officially eighteen!"

Her father ruffled her hair and Makoto blinked the tears that were threatening to spill.

Pekoyama and Leon beckoned her over before a new beat started and Makoto grinned and laughed. Oh gosh this song.

Makoto made her way to the stage and was a little surprised as Junko, Hinata, Asahina, Komaru and Owari came with her. Maizono put a little speaker on her ear and Makoto and the rest of her friends began to dance because _of course_ they knew the dance to this song.

Makoto opened her mouth and began to sing.

 _Taking me higher than I've ever seen before_

 _I'm holding it back, just want to shout out, give me more_

 _You're just a hideaway_

 _You're just a feeling_

 _You let my heart escape_

 _Beyond the meaning_

 _Not even I can find a way to stop the storm_

 _Oh baby, it's out of my control_

 _It's going home_

 _But you're just a chance I take_

 _To keep on dreaming_

 _You're just another day_

 _That keeps me breathing_

 _Baby, I love the way that there's nothing sure_

 _Baby, don't stop me_

 _Hideaway with me some more_

 _Ooh, aah, aah, ooh_

 _Ooh, aah, aah, ooh_

 _Ooh, aah, aah, ooh_

 _Ooh, aah, aah, ooh_

Makoto glanced at the crowd and was please to see everyone had started dancing. Her father and Komaeda were doing a lot of hand gestures but it was something. Her mother was laughing at them as she filmed them on her phone.

Byakuya and Kyoko were tapping their feet on the floor. Yamada kept trying to get Celestia to dance with him but it looked like she'd rather dance with the stuffed Monokuma bear. Boy was that bear popular.

Tsumiki and Mitarai were dancing together before they pulled Sonia and Soda along with them. Toko and Hagakure were dancing together as well which was surprising. Ishimaru and Owada had pulled Kuzuryu to the dance floor and were doing the robot.

* * *

As the day went on, people eventually went back inside the house where it was warmer before Makoto's mom said she had a treat for everyone and to gather around in the living room.

Makoto and Komaru glanced at each other. They had a bad feeling about this.

Makoto's mother set up the TV before inserting a disc inside and everyone waited in baited breath at what would appear.

The first thing they saw was a Christmas three with presents scattered under the tree and Komaru gripped Makoto's hand as they both paled as two little girls came onto the screen.

"Is that you?" Komaeda asked Makoto.

Makoto could only nod.

"Daddy!" ten year Makoto said with a squeal as she pointed a particularly large present with her name scrawled all over it, "Is that for me?"

There was a chuckle from the person holding the camera before Makoto's mother handed her eldest daughter the package while little Komaru looked on in excitement as her big sister began to open the package.

At seeing the karaoke label on the box, Makoto squealed before she opened the box only for her to frown. She got up on her little legs and lifted the box and shook it until a pair of socks landed on the floor.

For a moment there was absolute silence as Makoto stared at the socks before she looked back at the camera and her lips shook, "So you don't love me anymore? Is that it?"

There were a few chuckles from the guests in the living room and Makoto covered her face and groaned.

Little Komaru got up on tiptoes and patted her sisters head, "It's okay Mako-chan. We can share my present!"

"Really?" she sounded so hopeful.

Komaru spread her arms wide and grinned. "Yeah, we can share!"

Makoto sniffled a little more before she nodded and she took a seat on the floor as Komaru began to open her own gift. At seeing the laptop label on the box, both girls grinned at each other before they began to eagerly open the box only for their faces to fall at the sight of two pieces of underwear.

Everyone in the living room laughed and Komaru covered her face as Makoto placed a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder.

For the second time there was silence in the video before Komaru got up, grabbed her backpack and Makoto began to stuff a few clothes and some toys inside before both girls started heading for the door.

"Girls?" Makoto's mother called after them, "Where are you going?"

Makoto briefly turned her eyes to her mother before she reached for the knob, "Oh you know. We're going to look for a new home because you clearly don't love us."

Makoto's father let out a strangled laugh and tried not to drop the camera.

Mrs. Naegi put a hand to cover her laugh as Komaru turned and called back, "We'll write. You know, if we feel like it."

And with that both girls disappeared outside while their parents doubled over in laughter.

"How long do you think it'll take before they notice that's the closet?" Mr. Naegi asked between laughs.

Mrs. Naegi snorted and fell to her side as she clutched her stomach. "Quite a while."

And then the screen turned dark and Makoto and Komaru had turned beet red as everyone started howling in laughter.

Hinata slapped his knee as tears ran down his face. "Seriously?"

"Shut it," Makoto and Komaru muttered back.

"That's right Hinata, we wouldn't want them to run away again." Mrs. Naegi said as her lips twitched upwards.

That started another round of laughter and Makoto stomped her foot and pouted.

* * *

When the cupcakes and cake had been brought out later on Makoto let out a little squeal at how cute the cakes looked.

One had a little violin and a piano drawn on it with the words 'Happy Birthday' scribbled on top while the other cake had a batman figure standing next to the bat mobile.

Makoto blew out the candles before Hinata and Junko stuffed her face in the cake.

Makoto promptly threw them each a cupcake before her mother scolded her not to play with her food. That is until her husband threw his own cupcake at his wife's face.

The room gasped as Mrs. Naegi turned to her husband who pointed at Komaeda who pointed at Asahina who pointed at Sakura.

The tension dissolved as Mrs. Naegi wiped a piece of cake off her cheek and brought it to her mouth, "Well, shit. This is fucking delicious."

"Mom! Language!" Makoto and Komaru screeched.

* * *

As the party began to die down and people began to start heading home, Komaeda pulled her aside until they were in the backyard before he pulled out a small black box and handed it to Makoto.

"For me?" Makoto asked.

Komaeda nodded nervously and urged her to open it.

Makoto glanced down at the box and opened it to let out a small gasp. Inside was the blue heart necklace that she had been looking at a few weeks ago.

"You noticed?" she asked.

Komaeda shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I notice everything about you."

Makoto smiled.

"Turn it over," he asked shyly.

She did and gasped again as tears began to prick her eyes. "Oh, Nagito…"

Nagito suddenly looked unsure, "Do you not like it? I could change it and-"

Makoto shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't you dare. This is the best birthday present anyone has ever gotten me. Don't you dare change anything, I love it."

Nagito let out a sigh of relief and tightened his hands on her waist.

Makoto pulled back from the embrace, "Put it on for me?"

Nagito nodded and licked his suddenly dry lips as Makoto moved her hair to the side so he could get a clear view of her neck. He placed the necklace around her neck and placed a small kiss on the back of her neck and inwardly groaned as she shivered.

"So," he said as he turned her over in his arms, "Best birthday ever?"

"Best birthday ever," she said as he tipped her head back and kissed her like he'd been wanting to do all day.

* * *

I'm honestly very proud of this chapter, took me a while but i liked how it ended up so I really hope you guys like it!

Songs used in the story:

Pain by The War on Drugs (it's the songs Makoto and Nagito listened to on her bike)

Happy Birthday by The Click Five

Hideaway by Kiesza


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